999
by peachpick
Summary: (THIRTEEN x OC) Naomi Hua worked as an emergency dispatcher for many year, and saw her fair share of the odd and out of this world. One day, as she pushes through her boring normal life, she meets the Doctor and finds herself in the middle of all the calls she used to make.
1. A Letter From Her

A man had come up to Naomi only half an hour ago with the note. His demeanor was odd, his shoulders hunched and a frown came to his lips. The coat holding his shoulders down billowed behind him. He tried to smile at Naomi before it turned back into a frown and handed her the note.

"Goodbye," he whispered, although an odd twinkle came to his eyes. "And hello."

He tried to smile one more time, as if something familiar had come to him. An old friend's laugh or the feeling of standing so close to someone. She wasn't sure.

Naomi had yet to take the note, so gently he took her hand in a way she had memorized and placed the letter into her hand. He turned away, fixing the tie around his neck before walking back the way he came.

Naomi tried to yell out, she knew where she had seen him before but he was around the bend now and she no longer had the energy to run.

Slowly, she unfolded the envelope and pulled the letter out, stuffing the extra scrap into her pockets.

 _"My dearest Naomi,"_ it read in familiar handwriting of her Doctor.

 _"By now, you've been taken back to Sheffield as rightfully so. I've crossed my own time stream to deliver this to you. It could've torn the whole Universe apart, but you were worth that._

 _"I need you to know that this was necessary. I've gotten too close to people in the past and they have gotten lost or have died by my side. I can't let myself fall so deeply again. Just know, that there will be days that you see me, but it won't be me. Something in the way I walk or how I talk that you'll recognize, that you'll know from the bottom of your heart. Just remember, it's not me._

 _"Even if that gaze feels like a million billion suns burning through your chest to run and hug me. To jump into my arms and kiss my face like you do. Or maybe there's a joke wrapped up in some nuance that you recognize. I don't know what I'm doing then because it's not who I am today. I'm just a memory now, to make your heart hurt even more._

 _"And I'm so, so sorry._

 _"Yours truly,  
_ _Doctor."_

Naomi Hua didn't feel like herself anymore. She was more weighted with the secrets of the Universe. Her once dull eyes told a story of a million lives and yet she had barely aged since she was last in Sheffield.

It was odd, one moment she had been careening around the Universe. Her heart soaring farther than ever before. Her mother would've been disgusted at the sight of how in love she was with a woman. One that wasn't even human at that.

But now, her chapped smile came to her mind as she held a note in between her olive finger tips. The paper had been folded at each delicate crease at least a hundred times from her anxiousness. The blue ink that it had been written in had smeared with her finger tracing the lines. The ink transferring to the pad of her finger.

Naomi never knew a bad day as much as this one, not even when she had a DNA bomb stuck into her collar bone or when King James had tried to make a pass at her and Yaz. It was nothing, compared to this.

* * *

 _ **AN:** I am so excited for the new season! For the new Doctor! For the new companions! For the new writer! I am just so excited and I've had this very vague idea in my head for a few weeks now. It'll be nice to write stories from a more modern era because I've been stuck doing episodes from Seasons One and Two recently._

 _I am going to be updating this as best as I can with one half on Wednesday the week the episode comes out and the other half on the Saturday before the next episode. The best thing is that there won't be any two part episodes so I won't have to wait to make sure all my ties are made. Although, I will go back and edit this to make sure no loose ends are left at the end of the series._

 _ **NEXT TIME:** "We don't get aliens in Sheffield." In a South Yorkshire city, Ryan Sinclair, Naomi Hua, Yasmin Khan and Graham O'Brien are about to have their lives changed forever as a mysterious woman, unable to remember her own name, falls from the night sky. Can they believe a word she says? And can she help solve the strange events taking place across the city?_


	2. A Woman Named Beth

Naomi only had a few minutes of her shift left, then it was the seven o'clock train back into little suburb and she'd be at home, in bed at seven thirty. Just as she was every night. She would make herself some dinner, like ramen in a cup. She'd watch a few episodes of _The Great British Bake Off_ on Netflix, then put herself to bed so that she could do it all over again tomorrow.

Her porcelain white phone rang at her desk, disrupting her thoughts.

"999, what's your emergency?"

"Hi, uh, police, maybe," the young man on the other line answered.

* * *

Naomi had piled up her paperwork and shoved it into a file before she left her office. She was more tired than usual, especially with the last call. Ryan Sinclair, nineteen, had been walking through the forest to find his bike when he found something weird. Something... he didn't think came to earth.

Naomi sighed to herself as she thought back to the phone call, it reminded her of those years back in London. Every year or so it was different. ATMOS going haywire. Starships in the sky. You name it, she'd heard it.

With a large yawn, Naomi took the few steps up into the train that would take her home. Her feet dragged behind her like pounds of flour until she flopped into a seat in the back. She kicked off her heels, setting them in the seat beside her and then her purse.

Those thoughts of her life with in London kept repeating themselves and she tried to soothe herself into calmness but she couldn't. So, as she leaned back into her chair she listened in on the couple a few seats in front of her and to the left.

"Do you think he's ever going to call me 'grandad'?" the older man asked his wife anxiously. He had on a blue sweater and a lighter blue scarf tucked into the collar.

"Give him time," the woman reassured him, moving herself closer to the man. Naomi could make out the laughter lines around her eyes, they were kind and sweet.

"Three years we've been married," the man argued, crossing his arms.

"And you've never been happier," the woman agreed.

She smiled at her husband, showing off her pearly teeth before she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. Another passenger that sat in the seats opposite had caught her attention, but Naomi couldn't see him, as the woman turned to look at him.

"Can't keep his hands off me, love," she teased.

"Be. Have," her husband scolded.

"Never," she whispered, kissing the air.

Naomi laughed to herself as she watched on. The woman who Naomi wanted to grow up to be like, had turned to her, her smile still as dazzling directed at her.

"Something the matter, love?" the woman asked, but her smile turned into one that knew she had amused Naomi with her teasing.

Naomi smiled as best as she could, she didn't smile too often with her job nor at strangers, so she could feel that the edges were kind of strained.

"No, it's just," Naomi said. She wasn't sure where wanted to go with her sentence but either way, she needed to say something. No matter how stupid it sounded. "You two have a good life. One that you're not wasting on a forced love or anything. I aspire to have that."

The woman continued to smile, but her eyes looked worn and sad as she looked at Naomi. Naomi was disappointed to have put that look there. As the woman opened her mouth to say something, the train stopped abruptly. Naomi was lurched forward into the back of the seat in front of her. She squatted, holding her head in her palms.

Her ears buzzed as the lights flickered on and off before going completely dark. Naomi pulled her heels on so that she could walk over the glass and rushed over to the older man who sat on the floor in a daze.

"You alright, love?" he asked his wife.

"I think so, yeah," she agreed.

"Are _you_ alright, mate?" Naomi asked.

She squatted in front of him, her slacks brushing the floor as she dug her phone out of her coat pocket and turned the flashlight on to watch his eyes dilate.

"Yes, yes, thank you," he said quickly.

"What just happened?" the woman asked.

She leaned out from the window seat to look down the rows of seats, then down the carriages. Every room the same as theirs. Pitch black. She stood to her feet, alerting the three on her opposite side.

"Where are you goin'?" the young man in the seat next to the couple asked.

"Just havin' a look," she explained calmly.

"I'll come with you," Naomi said.

Naomi hopped up to her feet and followed the woman slowly. For Naomi, she needed to be thrown into the fire of this situation. She felt like it was her duty, even if she only handled emergencies from behind a desk.

"What was your name?" Naomi asked quietly.

"Grace. What about you, love?"

"Naomi."

The silence consumed them again as they tiptoed to the front of the carriage, their breathing increasing as they heard sounds come from outside and inside the carriage.

Grace stuck her shaky hand out behind her for Naomi to grab. She took it and tightly squeezed. Grace looked to her right and noticed an open window. She dragged Naomi over with her as she stuck her head outside.

"What are you doing?" Grace shouted down. "Don't go on the track, it could be live!"

Naomi wondered what Grace had saw, but suspected people were running away from the train.

"Get off of there!" one of the men shouted up to her.

Naomi set her hand on the doorknob, but just as her fingertips rested on top of the handle, the door locked with a loud click. She jammed her hand down but it was locked.

"Graham," Grace shouted down the carriage to her husband. "We're shut in, we can't get them open!"

Graham and the young man rushed down the rows and shoved themselves into the front of the carriage with Naomi and Grace. Grace stuck the front of herself back outside as she tried getting the door open with the outside handle. Nothing worked.

"Something's wrong," the young man whispered into the dark.

Naomi felt the hairs on her neck stand on end at his words. Something was wrong, it felt _wrong_. There was a chill in the air and the doors locking on them didn't scream 'safe'.

"I think it's coming down the train," he continued.

There was a rumbling at the end of the next carriage over that got louder the longer they stared. Then a spark of light came, it shorted quickly before coming back stronger. It looked like a bulb just before it shorted out.

They all watched the light, flinching back but unmoving until Graham had come to his senses and pushed the three back.

"Right. Get away from the door. Grace! Get to the back of the carriage. To the back of the carriage!" he shouted.

Grace still had a firm grip on Naomi's ringed fingers as she dragged her into the back of the carriage. Graham had tugged the other young man forwards as they followed after. The young man was able to shut the thin door between the carriages before joining them.

The four huddled into the back together. Grace dropped Naomi's hand as she pulled out her phone. Naomi suspected that she was going to call the 999, although she wasn't sure how much help anyone could be at this time. A giant ball of light was trying to attack them.

In the end, Naomi learned that Grace had called her grandson, Ryan (oddly enough) to come help them.

"Ryan, love, our train stopped between Hathersage and Grindleford and there's something really weird going on," she said anxiously before she sighed loudly. "It's dropped the call, hopefully he heard what I said," she muttered.

Grace paced the back of the car for a few moments before she decided to try and see what they were up against. Naomi never thought she'd be so brave as Grace. Although, she had come to like Grace, a lot. She had a strong urge to protect her.

"Grace, get back," Graham shouted.

Naomi hopped up as the light cracked again.

"You need to be careful," she whispered, slowly pulling her back. The light cracked again and a whole mess of the train carriage flew at them. Naomi took most of the blow, bruises would be showing up on her back tomorrow morning.

"What is it?" Graham asked.

Grace and Naomi returned to them as the light continued to crack behind them, metal tentacles drawing out from the light.

"I have no idea!" Grace shouted.

The big ball of junk metal had started to hover, moving closer to them. They were forced to push their backs into the wall, the ball so close they could almost touch it.

They would all be dead in seconds, the door locked and no one would know except for Grace's grandson. Who they weren't even sure heard their call. Naomi felt her chest rise and fall rapidly, her head felt like it was going a million miles a second but not getting anywhere.

Seconds before Naomi was sure they'd be dead, a woman fell through the roof of the train. Naomi only thought she was surely dead for a second before she popped up with a crooked smile.

"What?" she asked.

She looked straight at Naomi, her mouth screwing into odd shapes until she noticed Grace pointing behind her.

The woman turned where Grace was pointing at the big ball and without any thought at all, grabbed a piece of the wiring that had come loose with her entrance. She stabbed it into the ball, making it holler in pain before dropping into a pile on the floor.

She turned back to them, her blonde bob following her every move.

"Should buy us a few seconds," she explained.

The four of them watched her in shock, the roof of the train still caved in and she was still standing there. Naomi was seriously concerned for her health. Who could fall straight through a roof and look perfectly normal?

"Oh, yeah. Long story," the woman told them, looking up at the roof. "Tell you later. Doors?"

"Locked shut," Grace said, her voice misty with confusion.

The woman smiled to herself. "We'll see about that."

She reached into her coat pockets, a frown deepening into her skin as she patted herself all over.

"No sonic. Empty pockets. Ugh, I hate empty pockets!" she groaned.

"It's coming back!" the young man shouted from beside Naomi.

The woman turned to face the ball of metal.

"What are you?" she asked, leaning forward.

The ball crackled with energy, the woman flinching back. Naomi took her floppy hand and quickly dragged her back a few extra steps. She seemed to be an idiot. A smart one, but an idiot none the less.

"Oh! Okay. Don't like questions. More of the private type. I get that," she reassured the ball.

The ball cracked louder, moving from where it floated in the middle of the carriage and towards the young man as he pushed himself up against a window to try and get away from it.

"Get it away from me!"

"All of you, stay very still," the woman commanded, squeezing Naomi's hand tightly.

"It's gonna kill us," the young man wheezed.

"It could've done that already," the woman retorted, trying to soothe him.

"Nan!" a voice shouted from the other end of the carriage.

"Ryan!" Grace shouted. "Stay away!"

The carriage was still except for the mechanical whir and electric pulsing of the metal ball following them. The tentacles of the ball shot out from inside and hit everyone in the room with a shock of electricity.

For a moment, Naomi felt like she was going to die. Once the pulse had run though her, she would be dead in the ground. She would've never done anything great in her life. She would be dead in the water without having done _anything._

Then it stopped and she was still alive. The woman's hand was still clenched in between hers. Her nails digging into her skin but the woman didn't complain.

The ball, still lingering for only a moment, shot up into the hole the woman had created and out of their sight.

"You four, relax, but stay but," she told them calmly, slowly picking Naomi's hand off hers. "I'll check the rest of the train.

She turned to where Ryan and a police woman stood.

"Fat lot of use you two were," she complained, shouldering past them.

The four stayed in the back of the carriage as they were told. They regained their breaths one by one but no one spoke. They sat, and waited to see what would happen next.

The police woman returned a few minutes later as the emergency lights flickered on. She introduced herself as Yasmin Khan and was willing to take statements from them. The young was the first to volunteer.

The woman who fell through the roof made her way past Yasmin and Karl, as he had told Yasmin, to the rest of them.

"Right then, troops. No, not troops. Team. Gang. Fam?" she asked, looking at Naomi. She shook her head. "I'm distracting myself," the woman stopped.

"You came crashing through that roof," Grace pointed out.

"Yeah, are you alright, sweetheart. Can I check you for a concussion?" Naomi asked, still concerned for the woman who seemed to be alright just walking around looking for giant metal tentacle things.

"I'm alright, still in the early hours of my regeneration, but I was thrown out of my TARDIS," the woman explained, looking between Grace and Naomi.

Something crossed the woman's face, as if she had just realized something. Slowly, she looked up to the hole she had made and raised her hands shakily.

"Oh! I've lost my TARDIS. It exploded and then it dematerialized."

Graham followed her line of sight, staring oddly at the woman.

"Don't panic. Not the end of the world," the woman reassured herself. "Well, it could be the end of the world! But one thing at a time."

"Are we supposed to understand anything you're saying?" Graham asked the woman in confusion.

"She thinks that thing's alien," Ryan supplied.

"Don't be daft, there's no such thing as alien," Graham pointed out. "Anyways, if there was, they ain't gonna be on a train in Sheffield."

"Usually, I'd agree with you on no aliens in Sheffield but I had a call like I used to have in London," she explained, turning to Ryan who had turned to her and looked at her oddly. "Are you the Ryan who called the 999 an hour or so ago?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded his head.

"Why not?" the woman interrupted them, staring at Graham with an innocent look. "I'm alien and I'm here."

Naomi felt her eyes bulge out of her head at the woman's statement, kind of on edge now that she had said that. Not that she wasn't before but this whole night had been unlike any other experience she had.

"Grace, we're going," Graham called after he had a moment to process what the woman had said.

"No, we're not," Grace protested. "She just _saved our lives_."

"Don't be scared," the woman reassured them, her crooked smile back. "All of this is new to you, and new can be scary. Now, we all want answers. If you stick with me, you might get some."

"Actually, um, I don't want answers," Karl called from behind the woman. "I just want to get to work and forget all about this. If that's alright with everyone," he said calmly. "Even if it isn't," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Thank you," he told the woman sincerly.

She nodded, although Naomi noted she looked a bit disappointed that Karl wasn't going to join them.

Yasmin turned to Karl as he left.

"Would you like me to—"

 _"No,_ thank you. I just want to be on my own. Take a walk. I need the air."

He held his bag to his chest nervously, once more turning to leave before quickly pointing back at Graham.

"And I'm with him. We don't get aliens in Sheffield."

Naomi laughed as the woman rolled her eyes at Karl's statement. She had already said she was an alien, not that Naomi believed her, but she kind of did. Falling through a metal roof and not having one scratch on her, it would odd if she was human.

"I believe he's still in shock, bless him," Grace said.

"Obvious question," the woman stated once Karl had gone. "but has anyone else noticed anything out of the ordinary tonight."

Yasmin and Naomi both turned to Ryan as he slowly raised his hand.

* * *

"What was your name?" Naomi asked the woman.

She and her walked side by side as they followed Yasmin to her police car. The woman turned to her, she pressed her lips together tightly and walked backwards.

"I'm glad you asked... I can't remember."

"Memory loss, then?" Naomi asked under her breath. "Are you sure you don't have a concussion?"

"No! I'll be fine! It's just the cells in my brain haven't all connected back together yet," she laughed, as if it were normal.

"Well, I can just call you lady or something," Naomi mused, tapping her index finger to her chin. "How about Beth, until you remember?" she asked with a small smile.

"Beth? Why Beth?" the woman asked curiously. "I usually go by John Smith."

"Uh, what?"

"When I want to go by a name that's not my name," the woman explained.

"You do know you're a woman? Right?" Naomi asked curiously.

"Right, I keep forgetting," the woman laughed slightly. "Have we met before? You look oddly familiar."

"No, I don't think so," Naomi said with a small smile. "I'd remember a pretty woman such as yourself," Naomi explained, quirking her head to the side and stuffing her hands into her pockets.

Beth smiled, although the flirting went right over her head.

"Ah, well then, what was your name?"

"Naomi. Naomi Hua," she greeted, sticking her hand out. It was freezing, especially with the rings sticking to her skin.

When they reached the car, they seemed to find themselves with a dilemma. Five seats and six people.

"What are we going to do?" Ryan asked awkwardly.

"Grace and I can just walk home from here. Come on, darling," Graham tried, but Grace tugged him back. She pulled Graham into the back seat with her, Ryan following along.

"Do you two mind piling in the passenger's seat?" Yasmin asked nervously. "We're not really supposed to but what else can I do," she muttered.

Naomi and Beth sat hip to hip in the passenger's seat as Yasmin buckled herself in and pulled out of her parking space.

"I'm gonna be in such trouble if they find out I was there," Yasmin said to herself.

Beth looked around the small car curiously.

"Can we have the lights and siren on?"

"No!" Yasmin shouted. "Shouldn't be doing any of this!"

Beth turned to the back of the car, ignoring Yasmin's stress and annoyance.

"So, you three know each other?"

"I'm his nan." Grace pointed to Ryan. "Graham's me husband."

"Second husband," Ryan muttered.

Naomi noted the distance between Graham and Ryan, and frowned. She knew the feeling of familial distance, even if Ryan didn't feel like he and Graham were really family.

"And you two know each other?" Beth asked, pointing between Yasmin and Ryan.

"Yeah, Yaz and I were at school together," Ryan nodded.

"Not Yasmin Khan?" Grace asked, looking over at Yasmin in the front seat.

"Hello, Ryan's nan," she greeted with a smile.

"Have you done well for yourself, love."

"Aren't I the black sheep," Naomi laughed to herself.

"Didn't you say you had answered Ryan's call about this thing?" Beth asked her.

"Well, yeah, but that's just coincidence."

"Nothing's just a coincidence," Beth said, turning back to Ryan. "And you say you just found it there, this thing?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I took pictures."

Ryan pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to Beth.

"Good lad," she cheered, taking his phone.

There was what Naomi had heard earlier. A blue and pink object in the middle of the forest that kind of looked like a hershey's kiss.

"That's exciting," Beth said excitedly. "No, not exciting. What do I mean?" she asked herself, pausing for a moment. "Worrying." She turned to Yasmin. "Fast as you can, Yaz."

* * *

The six made it into the forest where Ryan had found the hershey's kiss. It had turned pitch black by the time they had made it into the forest. Every crack and chirp made the group more anxious as they moved through. The train ride still on their minds.

Ryan and Yasmin stood at the front of the group with torches as they showed them the way to the strange object.

"There's my bike," Ryan noted.

He pointed his torch up into the trees where a ride bike hung in the branches.

"Why's it in a tree?" Beth asked.

"We were up top and I dropped it over," Ryan explained cooly.

"Do you do that everytime?" Naomi asked curiously.

"He gets cross because he can't ride it," Graham explained, popping his head in between Beth and Naomi's shoulders.

"He's got dyspraxia," Grace explained, more motherly to them. "It's a coordination disorder."

"Anyway, enough about me. The tree's to the left, so it should be..."

Ryan pointed his torch to the right side of the tree where a patch of dirt laid. Only an indention of the soil showed that the object had been there.

"It was definitely there," Yasmin shouted.

She ran over to the indention, lighting her torch over the dirt.

"So, where's it gone?" Beth asked, squatting opposite of Yasmin to look at the soil worriedly.

* * *

The six had made it back to Yasmin's car. She had gotten inside to go back to the police station to speak with her boss.

"Two weird things, one city, same night. Makes me nervous," Beth explained.

She leaned into Yasmin's car so that she could have a good look at her.

"I'll see if there's been any more reports on that object," Yasmin nodded.

"Good, because we need all the information we can get. Meet us back here," Beth stated, standing up and patting the side of Yasmin's car before she drove off.

"I'll text my friend, Tara. She has the next shift at the 999. She'll be able to keep an eye for any odd disturbances," Naomi assured Beth, taking her phone out and quickly texted Tara.

"I can have a word with some of my old pals from work. If you want to know what's happening, ask a bus driver," Graham claimed with a nod.

"He always says that," Ryan pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, that's because it's true! I'd still be doing it now if I could," Graham said loudly and defensively.

Ryan ignored him. "I can search for weird stuff on social media."

"And I'll check in with my nurses group on WhatsApp," Grace followed.

"Seriously though, aliens?" Graham asked Beth.

"Yup," she agreed.

"Oh, yeah, maybe I won't mention that bit," he muttered, turning to leave and meet up with his mates.

Naomi noticed Beth start to wobble on her feet, before she slumped over but still kept herself up on her feet.

"Suddenly I fe _el... really_ tired."

Naomi took the few steps to hold Beth up by her shoulders before she could fall over and hurt herself more.

"That was a big fall you had, love," Grace told her. "Should get you check out at A&E."

"No," Beth muttered. "I never go anywhere that's just initials. Although," she groaned, shoving her finger up her nose and straightening up so that she was leaning her back into Naomi's front. "Can one of you catch me?"

"Are you going to fall over?" Ryan asked, although Beth was still in Naomi's arms.

"In two minutes, nineteen seconds. Wait! Forget the two minutes. Nineteen. Oh, this new nose is so unreliable," she muttered, slumping over away from Naomi and into Ryan's arms.

* * *

Naomi and Ryan were able to carry Beth to Grace's apartment that had only been a few blocks away. Ryan sat at his nan's dining room table with his iPad to search for anything that could link with the object in the forest.

Naomi sat in the living room with Beth, stroking her hair back as she placed a cool rag on her forehead. Grace walked in a few minutes afterwards with a blanket.

Suddenly, a golden glow started to emit from Beth's skin.

"Ryan. Look," Grace called.

Ryan turned before standing up to get a closer look. Beth opened her mouth, a small piece of the golden light releasing from her mouth.

"Oh, my God. What is that?" Ryan asked.

"I have no idea."

"I believe she's an alien now, though," Naomi muttered.

* * *

Beth pushed herself forward, off the couch and knocked her head with Naomi's, both women groaning loudly from the pain.

Graham and Yasmin had found there way back from their meet ups with no luck from either source.

"Who woke me up? I'm not ready. Still healing. Still, ah!" Beth ranted, climbing on the couch to sit on top of it. "Can you smell that? No, not smell. Not hear. _Feel._ Can you _feel—"_

Beth put her hand inside her shirt so she could touch her collarbone and stopped.

"Stay still, Naomi."

"What's happened?" Naomi asked, paranoia seeping into her words and thoughts.

Beth breathed heavily, standing up and exhaling sharply.

"Show me your collarbones," she demanded.

Each of them pulled back their shirts to show off their collarbones.

"Oh, you've all got them."

"So have you," Ryan pointed out.

Beth looked down slowly. "Yeah, I have. Okay." She took a deep breath. "Really sorry. Not good news. DNA bombs. Micro-implants which code to your DNA," Bethe explained, walking around their line. "On detonation, they disrupt the foundation of your genetic code, melting your DNA. Fast and nasty and _outlawed_ in every civilized galaxy."

Beth stood in front of Naomi, pushing back the collar of her shirt and pressed her thumb into the light on Naomi's collarbone.

"How did we get them?" Ryan asked from beside Naomi.

"Never mind that, are they going to go off?" Graham asked at the end of the line.

"Quiet, I'm trying to... think. It's difficult," Beth interrupted them, staring hard at Naomi's collarbone. "I'm not yet who I am," she explained, looking down at Naomi. "Brain and body still rebooting. Reformatting."

Beth looked away from Naomi and towards the dining room where she spotted Ryan's phone on the table.

"Oh, reformatting! Can I borrow that?" she asked, rushing to the table and picking it up.

"Yeah, I guess so, but what for?" Ryan asked.

"That creature. On the train. When you two came on board, it zapped us all with these. Simple plan to take out witnesses. Very clever. Merciless, but clever," Beth explained.

Ryan's phone beeped after Beth typed a few things into his phone. She gasped loudly, holding the phone up a bit.

"I reformatted your phone," she informed Ryan.

"No! All my stuff's on there!" Ryan protested.

"Not anymore!" Beth sung.

Beth took the end of Ryan's phone and placed it onto her collarbone. It sent a shock through her, throwing her back into the wall.

"That nap did me the world of good," Beth said with a large smile. "Very comfy sofa."

She ran across the room, picked up Ryan's phone from where it had been flung across the room.

"Come on. Keep up," she called to the five standing around.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _Ah! Finally! The first chapter is here, I'm actually keeping my promises, and hopefully the next installment will be out on Sunday! I actually lied in my last chapter saying this would update Saturday. I meant to say Sunday, which is the day the next episode comes out... LOL._

 _So, anyways, how do you guys like Naomi? I feel like not that much has happened with her as of yet but her and the Doctor's / Beth's interactions are quite sweet. I would die for them already._

 _If you'd like to know more about Naomi head on over to my OC book where you can read a little more about her! There aren't really any spoilers since I don't even know how this season is going to go, but you can learn about her family life, her psychology, see some moodboards and the like. I've also made a pinterest which is just /biancathane if you want to see some more moodboards._

 _ **NEXT TIME:**_ _The gang? Team? Fam? Find Rahul, a man only trying to find his sister who went missing six years ago. That same creature was back and his name is Tim Shaw._

 _ **999!**_


	3. A Woman Named the Doctor

"Next left," Beth directed Grace from the passenger's seat.

Before the group left, Grace had offered for them to pile into her minivan since they'd all be able to drive quickly and somewhat safely to their destination without being crammed next to each other. Naomi now sat in the middle seat, with Yasmin on her left. Ryan and Graham sitting in the back of the car.

"Where are we driving to?" Yasmin asked, a harsh glare at the back of Beth's seat.

"I reckon she's using my phone to track the origin signal for the DNA bombs," Ryan said quietly, leaning slightly forward so that they could all hear him.

"Again, how long until they go off?" Graham asked nervously.

"Don't know," Beth muttered, staring closely at the odd signals on the phone.

"Well, can't we just defuse 'em?" he asked.

We'd need a bomb squad to stop it," Naomi said, turning back to see Graham.

"Left again," Beth told Grace.

She turned sharp into an alley, the tires screeching and making everyone in the van fly forward. She stopped the car, everyone running out as Beth watched Ryan's phone closely.

"We're close," she informed them, the phone beeping repetitively.

Beth turned her head to look behind them, noticing a puddle on the ground tremorring with the movement of the thing they were tracking.

"Bingo," Beth exhaled.

In the smoke of the building came a large figure, tall and daunting towards them.

Beth took in a large breath before shouting, "Oi!"

It stalked forward, even closer, catching all of them by surprise as it wasn't the tentacle they remembered from the train.

"I was expecting a tentacley thing," Beth said to herself. "Don't you move!" she shouted at the creature.

The tall alien man turned away, ignoring her protests. Beth quickly ran forward, pursuing the creature they had been tracking, as it seemed.

"Beth! Don't leave us behind!" Naomi shouted, awkwardly following behind in her not too tall heels.

"Hey, is that another alien?" Ryan asked behind her, his footfalls coming closer.

"Looks like it," Grace agreed, following after Ryan.

"Why is she running at another alien?" Graham asked, exasperated by Beth's actions.

"Don't just stand there, come on!" Yasmin encouraged, following the group.

"Well, now you're all running at it," Graham muttered, falling in behind the rest.

"Oh!" Beth panted.

She and Naomi had turned down the alley the creature had gone down, but nothing was there. Just the odd smoke that kept rolling in.

"Lost it. He's fast," she muttered.

Naomi noticed she was holding her side tightly.

"Are you alright?" she asked, trying to place a hand on Beth's side but she smiled as she pushed her hand away.

"It's just that I'm slower because of all this fizzing inside," she explained, scrunching up her nose and quirking her head to the side.

Behind them, Ryan moved out of the smoke with Yasmin beside him as he shouted, "In here!"

The four walked inside one of the rooms of the building, Graham greeted them by pointing out the body fallen on the ground, horrifying to look at.

"That thing must have killed him," Grace considered, standing over the man's body. "I-I've never seen injuries like these," she stated, shaking her head in horror.

"Not a weapon blast. More of an ice burn," Beth stated, squatting over the body.

"His jaw is broken too," Naomi pointed out, getting a bit closer to the body.

She had never been good with bodies. Living, dying or dead, but she knew what she was looking for. Even when her mother had sent her away, she had paid for her tuition half way through to being a real surgeon. When she realized she couldn't handle opening up the bodies, she decided to switch majors. That was the last time she spoke to her mother.

Beth looked closer, noticing something odd about the inside of his mouth, as Naomi had pointed out.

"Looks like it took one of his teeth," she explained. "What sort of creature kills someone then stops to pull out a tooth?" she asked, trying to piece the puzzle together. Beth shook her head with great sadness. "I'm sorry you all had to see this."

"I'll find something to cover the body," Grace muttered, standing to her feet.

"Thank you, Grace," Beth muttered.

Naomi moved to where Grace had been, taking her hand and closing his open, burned eyes shut.

"I'm sorry any of this is happening," Beth muttered. "I'm sorry that thing on the train planted these bombs inside you and I'm sorry I haven't figured out what's going on yet," she continued.

"It's not your fault, Beth," Naomi muttered.

Ryan had walked away from the group, calling to them, "This is it. This is the thing."

Yasmin and the rest turned, she walking forward quickly with her eyebrows dragged together in confusion. "It was all sealed up earlier. Looks like it's been broken."

"Or it's done what it came here for," Beth said. "Some sort of… transport chamber," she mused, walking around so that she could see the casing fully. "Presumably for that thing we just saw in the alley. But why here? Why tonight?"

"Actually," Ryan said solemnly. "That might have been me."

Beth stood on the other side of the pod, staring at Ryan from the corner of her eye with a small frown.

"Why? What did you do?" she asked.

"When I went to get my bike, there was this line in the air and then it moved and there were shapes," he explained, but going no further, keeping all of them on the edge of their seats.

"And?" Beth prompted.

"And I touched one," he shrugged.

" _Ryan,"_ Grace whispered softly, surprised by her grandson's actions.

Ryan tensed up, looking around at the five. "You all would have done the same," he snapped.

"I wouldn't," Graham shook his head, a hand on his chest.

"I would have," Beth admitted, raising her hand and making an odd face that agreed with Ryan's actions.

"All right," Ryan continued. "The shapes disappeared. A few seconds later, that appeared. What have I done?" he asked slowly.

Beth scrunched up her nose as she returned her gaze to the pod. "Hard to say, really," she said, putting her hand to her mouth but not looking at Ryan as she spoke.

"I suppose you'll be blaming this on the dyspraxia as well," Graham asked rhetorically, moving away from Grace as he did.

"Excuse me?" Naomi asked.

"Can't ride a bike, started an alien invasion," Graham continued, talking over Naomi.

She had moved to stand beside Ryan, annoyed by Graham's comments up to now.

" _Graham,"_ Grace hissed. "Enough, love."

"All right, I made a mistake," Ryan agreed. "But why did that guy move this thing from the Peaks to here? And how did he even know it was there?" he asked them.

"Good questions," Beth nodded, but nothing could be explained by then.

"Let's take a look around, see what we can find," Yasmin whispered to Ryan, tugging on his sleeve.

Naomi decided to follow the two, she wanted to be more than the stander by. She wanted to be more than just the ears to listen, she wanted to be the hands that acted.

"It's not your fault, all this," Yasmin told Ryan as the three walked through a side room, her torch showing the small details in the framework.

"Yeah, it basically is," Ryan said.

"It's not. You may be the catalyst, but it's not your fault," Naomi disagreed, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged her off, walking to a small back section of the room. "Maybe tell Graham that."

Naomi frowned, disappointed that Ryan had been hurt by Graham's words. She knew the feeling, of someone close failing to see the shortcomings in something that she or Ryan or anyone, could not control.

Yasmin had come to frown too, shining her flashlight in his face. "He knows, really."

She followed him to the back, Naomi slowly clicking her heels to stand beside them.

"Do you two believe she's an alien?" Yasmin asked, turning her head to look at Ryan and then Naomi.

"Yeah, I think I do, yeah," Ryan agreed, although it still sounded unsure.

"She sure acts strange, so yes," Naomi agreed.

"Is that mad?" Yasmin asked anxiously.

"No," they said together.

"I think I do too," she muttered, finally coming to terms with it.

"Her, er, look in here," Ryan pointed out, noticing a small office space with a computer inside.

The three walked inside the small office, Yasmin and Naomi looking inside an old file with clippings from newspapers and a missing child poster. Ryan had walked over to the computer, turning it on.

"Hey, look at this," he called.

Yasmin and Naomi slowly walked over, noticing the file the mouse hung over in large text: "IF I DIE CLICK HERE".

Naomi walked from the office to the room they had left the Doctor, Graham and Grace. Just as she stepped in, the Doctor stepped out from a curtain. She wore bug-eyed goggles and a smock as she held up a small metal thing.

"Ta da!" she cheered just as it sparked. "Ooh. Should be fine."

"Hey," Naomi called to her. "We found something."

* * *

The five stood around a computer, an Indian man with the scruff of a beard and eyes like a madman sat at the camera, whispering to them.

"It's come back," he said, he let out a shaky breath before continuing. "The thing I saw the night my sister—everyone always says 'disappeared,' but I know she was taken. Seven years now. Tracking energy signals building predictive programmes, so that I'd know when the atmospheric disruptions matched what happened that day. But tonight it came back again and I've got it. I'm going to find out what happened to my sister. If anything happens to me, her name was Asha. Don't let anyone else go through this," he warned, taking another deep breath before he turned the camera off.

"He knew what he was doing might kill him," Ryan realized softly.

"She was his family," Beth whispered, picking up one of the pictures on his desk that had the man as a child and his sister behind him.

* * *

The five stood back in the room with the pod, everyone standing around as Beth walked around it with the metal thing she had popped out of the curtain with.

"Did you just make that?" Ryan asked bemused.

"In the ten minutes we had been in the office?" Naomi continued from his question.

"Yes, it's a sonic screwdriver," she told them, popping up a bit as she considered the name. "Well, I say screwdriver, but it's a bit more multi-purpose than that. Scanner, diagnostics, tin opener. More of a Sonic Swiss Army knife," she explained, returning to scanning the pod. "Only without the knife. Only idiots carry knives."

"What do you need it for?" Naomi asked.

"Mapping the distance this object has traveled. It looks like it started over 5,000 galaxies away," Beth told her.

"How can you tell?" Yasmin asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"That bit there," Beth said, pointing to part of the casing. "Recall circuitry. It's designed for a return journey."

"So," Graham started slowly, wrapping his mind around what she said. "whatever killed that bloke will have to come back here?"

"Question is, why did it leave? What's it looking for?" Beth asked rhetorically, no one could truly know the answer.

"What's your best guess, love?" Grace asked her soothingly, sparking Beth's thoughts with the ideas she didn't feel like she could say out loud.

Beth sighed, taking a moment before answering. "Two aliens, one city, one night. Best guess? Two species at war using Earth as a battleground."

"Are you joking?" Yasmin asked, throwing her arms back down to her sides.

"Nope. Sorry," Beth muttered, walking behind them.

"So… So you're saying that the creature on the train and the thing that come out of here, they're now looking for each other, spoiling for a scrap?" Graham asked, following Beth's movements as she walked around.

"Bit more than a scrap," Beth stated.

"What are we going to do? Because this is my home, and I'm not having it being an alien battleground," Yasmin told Beth defiantly.

Naomi placed her hand on Yasmin's shoulder reassuringly, nodding her head in agreement.

"We stop them meeting, capture them, send them home, away from each other and away from Earth," Beth told them.

"How do we do that?" Ryan asked, with his arm around his nan.

"Well, give me a minute, I'm working on it," Beth told him, starting to get agitated.

"Not to sound like a stuck record, but can I just ask about these DNA bombs? Like, how long have we got left?" Graham asked, as they all were.

"Enough questions!" Beth exclaimed, stopping her work so she could look at them, her eyebrows raised into her hairline. "You lot, you love to chat, I get it. Lots to do, I'm working on it all. And I haven't forgotten about your collar bones, Graham. Give me nine minutes, a bit of quiet, and I'll be ready to roll," she told them, turning back to her work. "Scout's honour."

* * *

Twelve minutes later Beth had the four of them with wiring and alligator clamps. With Kevin the bus driver's intel they were able to locate the alien that had attacked them on the train.

"Hi. Us again," Beth greeted.

They all moved in separate directions to do their part in knocking out the creature so that they could send it back into space and on it's way home.

"Now!" Beth shouted to Grace as she shoved a metal tube at the creature.

Immediately it fell into a pile, the odd wiring falling in a clump.

"It actually worked," Ryan mused, as they all gathered around the tentacles.

"'Course it worked," Beth scoffed. "I'm not an amateur." She stepped over the tentacles and onto the backside so that she could have a good look at it. "Overloaded its sockets, stunned it for a bit. Not sure for how long, though."

"Then we need to hurry," Naomi muttered, squatting beside her,

"Yes, and thank you to Kevin the bus driver for location intel," she said with a small smile taking her sonic screwdriver to scan over its body readings.

Graham grinned eye to eye as he looked over at Grace, "See? Always ask a bus driver."

"Half-organic, half-machine," Beth read off the data as if she already knew the answers. "Starts to make sense now." She paused, looking back at the sonic when it started to beep. "Wait… It's a gathering Coil. No, dozens of Gathering Coils! These tencaley things, they're creatures which gather information. They've been lashed together and augmented into one super-creature," she explained to them, her hands waving all around. "But why? What data are they gathering? Unless—"

Yasmin stopped her as Beth stood up, "So, that's an alien species?"

"Not really," Beth told her, scrunching up her nose. "More of a semi-species, weaponized biotech."

"You said there were two aliens in a battle," Yasmin reminded her.

"You're right, I did, but now I think I'm wrong and I'm trying to catch up with what that might mean," the Doctor explained to her. "If I can access the data it's gathered," Beth said to herself, taking her sonic and pointing it at the coils.

An image appeared as the sonic stopped whirring, a face combined with white electricity projected from the coil as it continued to lie still on the pavement.

"Whoa!" Graham shouted. "It's Karl from the train!"

"Karl's the data!" Beth exclaimed it understanding. "That's what it was gathering on the train, but what would the alien want with him?"

"Which one of you should I kill first?" a voice like ice asked.

They all turned around to see the tall creature that had been hidden in the smoke on the other side of the roof. Its face was covered by a black mask with lines and pieces of tinted glass across it.

"I'm voting none of us," Beth called, walking forward so she could push Yasmin and Naomi back. "Get behind me now."

"Stop right there," the creature hissed at her.

"Come any further and we'll blast whatever that thing is," Beth threatened, her shoulders broad and held her ground.

"You're interfering in things you don't understand," it warned her.

Beth shrugged, throwing her arms out wide. "Yeah, well, we all need a hobby," she told it calmly.

"You're not human. Who are you?" it asked.

"Me? I'm—" Beth claimed, puffing out her chest as if she finally remembered, but then deflated. "Oh, it's gone again! I had it a minute ago. It's so annoying! Same question, back at you," she shouted but stopped again. "No, in fact, before that, because it's really bugging me. No, actually not bugging me, offending me! Why the teeth? Bad enough you kill, why take a tooth from the victim?" she asked.

The masked creature snarled behind its mask, slowly, its gloved hand reached for the mask and pulled it away. Behind was blue skin, pale blue eyes and along the dark blue was a sea of pearly teeth.

"A Stenza warrior wears his conquests," it grinned. "You may tell your children you were privileged to encounter T'Zim Sha of the Stenza."

There was a pause after he said his name, Naomi watching as the back of Beth's head quirked to the side.

"Tim Shaw?" she asked curiously.

"T'Zim Sha!" the thing corrected her.

"Tim Shaw?"

"T'Zim Sha!" he shouted, shutting Beth up. "Soon to be leader of the Stenza warrior race. Conquerors of the Nine Systems."

"When you say, 'soon to be leader', what are you now, the office junior?" Beth provoked it.

"Hey, don't wind him up!" Graham shouted beside Naomi.

"Tonight is my challenge," T'Zim Sha explained, ignoring her punch. "Trace and obtain the selected human trophy."

"It's a hunt. You're on a hunt!" Beth realized.

"Well done," T'Zim Sha congratulated, the edges of him mouth curling into a cruel grin as Naomi noticed how black his teeth were. "Your tiny mind must be burning with such effort."

Beth looked to her side with a frown, "Did he just say I had a small mind?"

"The challenge is simple, our leaders randomly designate a selected human. I'm sent here alone, no weapons, no assistance. I must locate and obtain the trophy and return home with it, victorious. By doing this, I ascend to leader," T'Zim Sha explained.

"This happened before," Yasmin connected. "Rahul's sister."

"Earth is not a hunting ground," Beth hissed.

"Access was granted."

Ryan tensed, "No, it wasn't. It was a misunderstanding. Access revoked, as of now, by me."

"Just to pick up on one thing, you don't mind, do you? You said the rules were: 'No weapons, no assistance'," Beth repeated.

"Correct," T'Zim Sha agreed.

"How did you kill them? What caused the ice burns?"

"We Stenza live in temperatures far below this planet. One touch of my cold skin will kill a human," T'Zim Sha explained, which explained why he was covered head to toe.

"But what about the Gathering Coil?" Naomi asked, pointing back to it. "Wouldn't that be considered a weapon?"

"The creature is irrelevant," T'Zim Sha hissed.

"I don't think it is," Beth disagreed, following Naomi's lead. "I think you smuggled it ahead of you. I think it located the 'randomly designed human' for you. I think _you_ broke the rules. Some leader you're going to make. Tim Shaw is a big, blue cheat."

T'Zim Sha stepped forward towards the coil, having Beth move out of the way.

"Okay, fine, have it," she muttered.

He knelt before the coil, the white light that had made up the picture of Karl was streaming into T'Zim Sha's hand as the engraved lines in his suit started to glow blue.

"What's it doing?" Ryan asked.

"Total transference," she told him. "If you've finished, let's be really clear," she told T'Zim Sha as he stood. "You're not taking any human from Earth tonight. Leave now, or we're going to stop you."

T'Zim sha grinned, "Good luck." Then, he was gone.

"No!" Beth shouted, looking up at the sky. "Short-range teleport! Double cheat!"

"Where have them gone?"

"To hunt," Beth explained morbidly.

"Hunt who?" Graham asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, referring to the picture of Karl they had all just seen.

* * *

"Karl's number's going straight to voicemail," Yasmin sighed.

They were all back in Grace's van. Yasmin was trying to contact Karl from the information he gave her while Naomi and Ryan took to looking through their phones.

"Got him," Ryan said from the back, leaning forward so he could show Yasmin his phone. "Karl Wright, operator for Skylark Building Services."

"I know where their site is. It ain't far," Graham stated, lightly tugging Ryan back so he could see the road better. "Grace, next right, love."

Grace's tire screeched as she pulled up to a gate. The wire was cut opened as if slashed through, T'Zim Sha had found Karl already. Hopefully, he hadn't been caught yet.

" _Dennis, I need help! Someone's on my crane!"_ a voice shouted from a radio.

A man laid in the mud with the radio in his hand. Beth stepped over to him and picked up the radio, softly gazing at the dead body.

"Oh, great. Karl's a crane operator," Beth muttered.

"With our luck, it's not surprising," Naomi sighed.

"It's over there. That creature's guarding the bottom of it," Ryan pointed out.

Beth nodded her head to herself, looking between her new gang. "Graham, Grace, I need you to take this equipment," she explained, pointing to the wires and machinery they had tangled in their arms. "and get everybody off this site. Don't care how, use your initative. Do not come back in, understand?"

Graham and Grace nodded.

"Ryan, Yaz, Naomi, how are you with machinery and heights?" she asked with a large smile.

* * *

"That tentacley thing is guarding Karl's crane, so we go up this one," Beth explained, pulling down the ladder so they could get on going.

"What do we do when we get up there?" Yaz asked.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan," Beth assured her.

It felt like they had all known each other for a long time because Yaz and Naomi could both see through her lies.

"Really?" they asked together.

Beth huffed, "Well, I will by the time we get to the top," she sighed.

Beth started to climb up quickly, Naomi following and Yaz behind her.

"This was a terrible idea. Why am I climbing up hundreds of meters in heels?" Naomi asked herself, the rust of the metal digging into her hands.

"Yes, well, maybe you should have thought this through," Beth mused from above her.

"It's not like a woke up and based my footwear on if I'd meet aliens today," Naomi shouted up at her, shaking her head.

Beth paused, looking down at Naomi, "Naomi, you should always do that."

"Oh, you're one to talk," Naomi muttered, pulling herself up on a landing with Beth.

"Oi!" Beth shouted, noticing Karl in his small room on top of the crane. "Karl from the train! Up and over! Up and over!" she shouted, waving her arm from him to behind her as T'Zim Sha climbed up the side of his crane.

He had looked at her and then back down at T'Zim Sha before finally moving.

Yaz and Ryan followed after a few minutes, the four figuring out what their next steps would be.

"Oh! We made it!" Yaz sighed, pulling herself up with Ryan behind her.

"Oh! Oh, no, no, no! It's way too high up here," Ryan muttered, turning away from the edge.

"What's the plan?" Yaz asked. "You said you'd have a plan."

"Nearly," Beth assured her. "Nearly, nearly," she continued before inhaling sharply. "I got one. I climb on to the arm of this crane, you swing the arm round next to Karl's crane."

"Oh, no, you're kidding!" Ryan sighed.

"Karl steps across, you swing the arm my way. I get him back in here, all back down for a cuppa and a fried egg sandwhich," Beth sighed, her eyes distant for a moment. "I'm _really_ craving a fried egg sandwhich. Simple, no?" she asked, moving on.

"Not really," Yaz said.

"All right. It's a work in progress, but so is life. It'll be fine," she reassured them. "Ooh, I got these downstairs," Beth said, digging out a bunch of keys from her pocket and handed them to Naomi. "One must work. You can figure out how to work a crane, right? Go," she exclaimed, slapping Yaz's arm as she ran off.

"I'm going with her," Naomi told Yaz, shoving the keys into her hands.

"Yup," Naomi heard Beth mutter. "Way too high."

She spun around as she heard the clicks of Naomi's heels following her. "What are you doing?"

"Coming with you," she explained simply.

"No. No, no, no, you're not coming with me. It's too dangerous," Beth told her, taking her by the shoulders and pushing her back to where they had just come from.

"No, you're going to get _yourself_ into trouble. And what if T'Zim Sha finds us. Someone needs to make sure Karl gets to safety. Now, let's go," she told her, tugging on Beth's arm and making her way to the end of the crane.

* * *

Naomi and Beth stood at the end of the crane, waiting for Yaz and Ryan to get the crane to start moving. Suddenly, it started to move, the metal whirring as they flung the wrong way as Beth shouted. Naomi had clung to the back of her coat, Beth taking her hand to calm her. When it started to move the correct way, Beth was quick to coax Karl.

"Hiya. Again," she greeted.

"What's going on?" he asked, clutching the railing tightly.

"When the arms lineup just… step across," she explained, avoiding his question. He'd only panic more.

The crane stopped as they were lined up except for the height difference. Just as they were about to go up, there was a loud crack and the crane stopped moving.

"How am I supposed to get across there now?" Karl shouted as it sounded like he was about to sob in terror.

"When I said 'step', obviously, I meant jump," Beth corrected herself with a small smile. "Jump across," she waved.

"I can't do that!"

"It's easy, you'll be fine," Naomi shouted, trying to help ease him over.

"Chop chop. I'll catch you," Beth said, letting go of Naomi as she held her arms out.

"I don't know," Karl said warily. "I'm not great with heights."

"What?" Beth asked, cocking her head to the side.

"It's my dad's company!"

"Pop on over," Beth called, her arms still wide.

The sound of footsteps, harsh and quick, came from Karl's train. Shakily, he looked over his shoulder before turning back to Beth and Naomi.

"Okay," he finally relented, standing to his feet. "I am special," he told himself.

"Yes, you are," Beth agreed.

"I am brave and I'm gonna jump!"

"No time like the present."

Karl moved, standing up on the railings before jumping half way to them when the dark hand of T'Zim Sha gripped his shirt. Karl screamed then groaned as he was caught by the alien that dragged him back into the crane.

"Let him go!" Beth shouted, but T'Zim Sha only continued to drag Karl behind him. "If you want something done," Beth muttered to herself, backing up so give herself momentum. "Naomi, please don't try this."

Beth shot forward, jumping off the landing and just barely grabbing the bottom railing of the crane, her legs daggling.

"These legs definitely used to be longer!" Beth shouted in agitation. She pulled herself up and onto the other crane with everyone behind her. Every person she needed to save, in this moment, and finally she would.

Naomi couldn't hear much over the cold winds and her teeth chattering but she tried. Really, she did but she only seemed to hear one thing. The only thing she needed to hear, the answer of a hero.

"We're all capable of the most incredible change. We can evolve while still staying true to who we are. We can honor who we've been and choose who we want to be next," she preched, her words speaking to Naomi.

She felt her growth over the years, how she's shaped as an individual by nature and how she's turned out because of nurture.

"Who are you?" T'Zim Sha asked quietly, the wind carrying his words.

"Oh, yes, I'm glad you asked that again. Bit of adrenaline, dash of outrage and a hint of panic knitted my brain back together. I know exactly who I am. I'm _the Doctor_. Sorting out fair play throughout the Universe."

Something about that name seemed familiar to Naomi. As if it itched a scratch in the back of her mind. Something familiar and strange. Just like… all of those creatures that came to London. The Doctor had been used every so often in passing. The man who saved the Universe, and Beth was… him?

Naomi couldn't be sure what was going on, but had she the whole time they had met Beth. She didn't think so, but it wasn't the time to dwell as T'Zim Sha had been kicked

off the side of the crane. Their mission, completed.

They made their way down to the bottom of the crane where a large spark and the Gathering Coil fell. As Naomi approached, she found everyone morbidly standing over Grace on the ground. She had given her life for them, to protect them, to save them.

* * *

Ryan had been kind enough to invite Yasmin, Naomi and the Doctor to the funeral for Grace. They wanted to be there for her, and he let them.

They sat in a church, Yasmin sat alone in the pews when Naomi found her. She had been on her own, no one to join her. Naomi wanted to be that someone to join her. She took Yasmin's hand, patting the back of it as they waited for the service to start.

An arch of balloons sat above the casket, Graham had walked up to speak, his hands trembling as he stood in front of the church.

" Lots of you knew Grace longer than me," he started, holding his hands out in front of him. "so I can't stand here and pretend to know everything about her. I wasn't her first husband, but, she said I would do for a second attempt."

The room laughed as much as they could at a funeral.

"I can only tell you about the Grace I met when I thought I didn't have much time left. The, er… The Grace that showed me life had more to offer. And—And I know that if she was here now she would tell us not to be so sad.

"You see, I can hear her saying to me, 'Graham, we had three glorious years. What are you complaining about?' I'm complaining because I wanted more.

"You see, Grace was a better person than I could ever be. And I should have gone and Grace should still be here," Graham concluded.

Naomi frowned at the man's words. She didn't think anyone should believe they deserved to die. When the time struck, they would all pass as the Universe intended but she wouldn't say that to a man grieving the loss of his wife.

* * *

Graham had the small group who had saved the world over at his house, standing outside because inside reminded him too much of Grace. They each had a cuppa in their hands that Ryan had brought out to them, as they made themselves comfortable along the porch.

"What did you mean in your speech, you thought you'd 'run out of time?'" the Doctor asked.

"Oh," Graham said, slightly taken aback. "well, I, erm I had cancer, and, er… well, strictly speaking, I'm still in remission. Three years gone. And, er, Grace was my chemo nurse, that's where we met and fell in love. So, by rights, I-I shouldn't even be here," he explained.

The group got quiet, a moment of silence for Grace.

"Have you got family?" Yasmin asked the Doctor.

"No," she sighed. "Lost them a long time ago."

"How do you cope with that?" Ryan asked softly, he didn't feel like he could ever cope without his nan nor his mum.

"I carry them with me," she explained, lifting her chin up. "What they would have thought and said and done.  
Make them a part of who I am."

They all seemed to smile a bit at her words, a family they could get back to or remember. Naomi had always felt like a black sheep and she hated that she felt like it with her new friends as well.

"So even though they're gone from the world, they're never gone from me," the Doctor concluded.

"That's the sort of thing Grace would have said," Graham said with a smile.

"So, everything we saw, everything we've lied to people about, is this normal for you?" Yasmin asked.

"I'm just a traveller. Sometimes I see things need fixin'. I do what I can," the Doctor explained with a small, knowing grin before it faded again. "Except, right now, I'm a traveller without a ship. I stayed too long. I should get back to finding my TARDIS," the Doctor explained, turning to leave them.

"Doctor!" Naomi shouted, but she wasn't sure why. She didn't want to see the woman go.

"Can I just say," Yasmin finished for her, a small smile on her lips. "You really need to get out of those clothes."

Ryan laughed as Yasmin helped Naomi keep her around for just a little bit longer.

"Right, yeah. It's been a long time since I bought women's clothes," the Doctor mused, looking down at the coat and suit that had been scorched.

* * *

"Er, not that. Not that. Pfft. Not that! Ah! Not that," the Doctor shouted from inside the dressing room.

Ryan, Yasmin and Naomi stood outside, Yasmin and Naomi had their arms full of clothes while Ryan stood beside them with his phone as he scrolled through his social media.

"Yes, now that's what I want!" she exclaimed.

The Doctor stepped out with a flourish, throwing the curtains open as she stood in front of the three. She had on high-waisted blue pants, yellow suspenders, a blue shirt with stripes across the chest and a beautiful long coat.

"That's what you're going with?" Yasmin asked.

"I think she looks good in it," Naomi protested, winking at the Doctor.

"Got any cash?" the Doctor asked them, missing Naomi's wink. "Empty pockets."

Yasmin looked to Ryan who nodded towards the Doctor to urge her to comply.

"Also, I've been thinking about my TARDIS, do you think you guys might be able to help me?" she asked.

* * *

The four were back where it all started, Rahul's workplace. They stood with the Doctor banging and clanging things together loudly as they stood off to the side with wires and other oddities in their hands.

"How long have we got to stand here for? I'm getting cramp," Graham asked with a groan.

"Seriously, Graham, trying to concentrate here," the Doctor chastised.

"Do you understand what she's doing?"

"My ship uses a particular type of energy," she explained for him. "I've tracked that energy trail from the moment I lost it to where it is now. Now, given this is a transport pod - I'm configuring it." She took her sonic screwdriver and received the co-ordinates. "to send me to the planet where my ship seems to have ended up."

"You're going to another planet?"

"Well, I'm trying to, except Stenza technology is really annoying and super hard to decipher. Hundred and thirty-nine layers, seven of which don't make sense."

"So, this is goodbye?" Naomi asked, feeling slightly teary.

"Will be, yeah," the Doctor said, trying not to sound too heartbroken about it. "Right. Graham," she called.

"Yeah?"

"Clamp those onto there.

"All right."

"Yaz, throw the cable on to the top. Ryan, you turn on the switch. Naomi, make sure they do it right. All right," she said, exhaling deeply. "Okay, you four, I'm almost going to miss you," she said with a sad smile as the device she had made beeped loudly. "That's it. It's connected up. This should work. Oh, moment of truth, then. Wish me luck and goodbye."

Naomi, in her head, screamed no. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. Maybe she would just occasionally stop by for tea or have another adventure with them. But years ago, she met a man named the Doctor who passed by in the same manner. This was how it was supposed to be.

"Oh, deep breath," she said to herself, although the four all followed her instructions. "Not you lot, me."

The Doctor took in a deep breath, her sonic whirring and the microwave dinged as she was taken to her ship.

Naomi felt odd, like she was floating. She didn't think the Doctor leaving would make her feel this vulnerable. As she opened her eyes, she noticed that the space around her was black. Pitch black, and all she could see was the blonde hair of the Doctor and nothing but endless sky.

* * *

 _ **AN:** Sorry for the late update, I was sick yesterday and my cable wasn't working. So, finally it's here. Woohoo! I hope you all enjoyed it. _

_**REVIEWS REPLIED**_

 _ **notwritten:** thank_

 ** _Quavers:_** _oh thank you! i'm glad you find it cute, i really want Naomi to be a true sweetheart. She's the queen of little interactions. Hope to see you soon!_

 _ **Rrabbix:** thank you! _

**_NEXT TIME:_** _A daunting contest stretched across the galaxy and the Doctor and her new friends have found themselves stuck in the middle. Will they make it across the sand dunes and flesh-eating water alive?_


	4. A Rally of the Ages

**NAOMI** barely opened her eyes when she noticed two heads floating above hers. Their mouths were moving, saying something but she couldn't hear what it was. All she knew was that the pitch black expanse of space had been traded in for halogenic blue lights surrounding her and a glass shield that protected her from the heads.

She could hear the glass door open as the air escaped, letting the noises come inside.

"Naomi, it's alright. Just breathe slowly," Graham told her soothingly.

Ryan helped her out of the pod, Naomi thankful that this time she wasn't wearing her heels as her brown flats hit the metal floor.

"So, where are we?" Naomi asked, scratching the back of her head.

"On a spaceship," Graham told her lightly.

" _My_ spaceship!" a woman in the front shouted.

"Who's that?" Naomi asked, peeking into the cockpit but only catching a glimpse of rusty blonde hair.

"She says she's the pilot," Graham explained.

Ryan seemed to have finally come to his senses as he kept his wide eyes opened in surprise, "We were in space. No way. We were in that warehouse and then, we were in space," Ryan concluded.

"Yeah," Graham nodded

"How're we in space?!" he shouted softly, shifting his gaze between the two adults around him.

"I've got no idea," Graham muttered.

The pilot stepped out of her seat and made her entrance, leaning against the door frame as she smiled cockily at them.

"I scooped you," she explained. "That was a very sneaky trick of his," the pilot continued to talk to herself, shaking her head in amusement. "especially coming out of hyper-jump. Now, you could have been killed!" she shouted, pointing between Naomi and Ryan.

"Listen," Graham insisted, walking over to her. "I keep telling you, we haven't got a clue what you're talking about."

The pilot smiled mockingly, turning back to her seat as she said, "Oh, have it your own way."

"Where in space are we?" Ryan asked.

Naomi had a sinking feeling that they would never _really_ know where they were. Just off somewhere to be dumped and never be seen again. Just asking the question was going to lead to more questions.

"Just off the final planet, which is out of orbit. Not where it should be, but I'll still find it," the pilot mused, punching in a few buttons.

"What do you mean 'final planet'? How can a planet be final?" Ryan asked, standing right beside the pilot.

"You are a very funny little bonus," the pilot laughed, all her teeth showing as she smiled.

Naomi furrowed her brow, "Why do you talk about us as if we're cattle?"

The pilot was confused by Naomi's metaphor. "Cattle? I don't know what that is, but if you're saying what I _think_ you mean, it's because you are."

"Where's Yaz and the Doctor? Are they here?" Ryan asked, catching Naomi's attention away from the odd pilot.

"No," Graham solemnly shook his head. "I don't know where they are. I've been trying to get her to look for them," he pointed to the pilot. "I-I said there was five of us."

"And _I_ said I only saw the three of you," the pilot pushed back, a frown making up her features. "I mean, things _were_ moving pretty fast." The pilot's instruments started to beep as the whole room started to shake more than before. "Speaking of which, landing ahead. Lock yourselves back in," she directed them, pointing to the back of the ship.

"We're not doing anything, unless you turn this thing around and go look for our friends," Graham spat in her face.

"There'd be no point. If they were still there, they'd be dead," the pilot exclaimed, sadly shaking her head at them.

'They can't be dead," Ryan whispered.

"It'll be alright. If she scooped us up, maybe someone else scooped them up," Naomi muttered, patting Ryan's chest as she walked into the back of the ship to lock herself in.

* * *

 **ANGSTROM** , as the pilot had introduced herself, directed the three to a small piece of the floor that would allow them to gradually fall to the sandy ground beneath them. Angstrom had covered her nose and mouth in a beige clothe and her eyes had goggles over them as they landed. She stepped off, making her way across the sandy terrain as Graham, Ryan and Naomi stood in amazement.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Ryan shouted after Angstrom.

"I need to survey the atmospheric data," she explained.

"We're on an alien planet, Naomi, Graham," Ryan sighed.

"It's gorgeous," Naomi sighed, stepping off the floor and onto the sand.

She was quite thankful then that she hadn't gone to work that day, wearing more casual, hot weather clothes. With green cotton pants and a white button up shirt. She put her sunglasses on that had been tucked into her shirt as she looked out at the three suns.

"Well, the three suns in the sky are a bit of a giveaway," Graham sarcastically said.

"What do we do? Should we follow her?" Ryan asked, as Naomi had already made her trek towards Angstrom.

"Maybe they're here," Ryan said with a grin, thinking back to what Naomi had said. "Yaz and the Doctor. Maybe they're safe."

* * *

 **ANGSTROM** had led them across the sandy dunes, Naomi noticing that her skin was turning a slight shade of red.

"I'm going to have the worst sunburn of my life," she muttered to Ryan who nodded as he noticed it too.

"Love," Graham had called to Angstrom, striding beside her. "Whoever you think we are, we're not, alright?"

"Are you still pleading ignorance?" she asked with a shake of her head.

From behind them, a low rumble sounded, slowly gaining on them but neither Naomi nor Ryan were sure what the noise was.

"Do you guys hear that?" Ryan asked, turning around to see a bright light in the sky slowly becoming a spaceship.

"Finskad, how did he even make it?" Angstrom asked herself as they all stared at the ship.

"There's another spaceship," Ryan shouted, looking up at the busted ship coming right at them.

"Another spaceship about to crash land," Graham agreed.

Ryan was quick to run forward, out of the way as he pushed past Angstrom and Graham. The two and Naomi continued to watch as the ship got closer to them until it was too close to keep staring at.

"Oh, don't just stand there! Run!" Angstrom shouted, pushing Graham and Naomi forward as they ran down the small ditch they were in. "Keep going! Run, run, run, run, run, run, run!" she continued to shout.

The ship continued to get closer, touching the ground just as Ryan fell. Naomi and Angstrom held back, trying to pull him up by the arms. The sand swirling around them, the ship starting to screech to a stop.

Out of the wind and dust, when Ryan was safe and back on his feet, came the Doctor in all her glory.

"Doctor!"

"Sorry about the mess," she apologized, walking down to meet them.

"Yaz! You're alive," Ryan cheered.

She smiled kindly as Naomi shot over to hug her tightly, moving on to the Doctor afterwards.

"We thought you were both dead," she muttered, lightly hitting the Doctor on the shoulder who just smiled kindly.

"Right, quick update," the Doctor started, directing her attention back to the people she had gotten stuck here. "I made a terrible mistake. We shouldn't be here. I'm gonna fix it and get you guys home. I promise. As soon as I figure out where we are."

"How you gonna do that?" Graham asked.

"Not sure. Treating it as a chance to surprise myself," she explained, starting to walk off before turning back to them. "Oh! By the way, welcome ot what I presume is your first alien planet. Don't touch anything. Come on! Let's try this way."

The four looked between each other, mainly Graham, Ryan and Naomi who were covered in sand and dust. They weren't even given a second to get ahold of their bearings with the Doctor around, but it seemed to be part of her charm.

They stood down on a small rock as they looked across at the sand. Angstrom and Epzo, the man flying the other spaceship, stood back up top, bickering.

"We could try going that way," the Doctor muttered, licking her finger before holding her hand up. "It might be the best."

"We could go anyway, we'd still end up with six inches of sand in our shoes," Yasmin muttered, crossing her arms.

"I'm still going to turn brown by the end of the day, I don't really care where we go. As long as it's off this planet," Naomi told the Doctor, taking off her shoes so that she could let the sand drain out.

A loud alarm started to blast all around them, the two pilots getting excited as they jumped down.

"Here we go!" Angstrom shouted, putting her backpack on.

"What do you mean 'here we go'? 'Here we go' where? To what?" the Doctor asked, the five of them following after Angstrom and Epzo.

"Where are we actually going?" Ryan asked.

"Come on," Angstrom urged them.

They continued to trek across the sand, the Doctor feeling around in her pockets as she seemed to come across something. "Oh! I forgot I put stuff in these pockets," she laughed, holding out a bottle of sunscreen to Naomi.

"Won't I need something like SPF 300 because of the three suns?" Naomi asked, taking the bottle with a small smile as she started to put it on.

"You'll be fine," the Doctor waved her off.

"All this sand is getting in my eyes, something rotten," Graham groaned.

"Want to borrow my shades?" the Doctor asked, handing the horn-rimmed glasses over to Graham who took them with a smile and put them on without a care. "They're an old pair of mine. I say 'mine'. I can't remember who I borrowed them off now. It was either Audrey Hepburn or Pythagoras."

"Eh?" Graham choked. "Pythagoras never wore shades."

"You obviously never saw him with a hangover," the Doctor said back, hurrying her pace as the two pilots stopped at the sight of something.

"Do you two know what that is?" the Doctor asked, staring down at the tent.

There was a moment of silence until Epza muttered, "It's a tent."

"Well." The Doctor clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Obviously it's a tent. I meant, oh! Nevermind. Come on," she called to the four. "No dawdling."

The five walked to the tent, Epzo and Angstrom inside by the time they reached the curtains. They stopped with the Doctor who had her nose scrunched up by the three suns and looked between them cautiously.

"I still don't know what's going on. It could be dangerous. Well, probably is dangerous."

"Can I ask," Graham interrupted. "If we are on an alien planet, with aliens, how can we understand ;em? Ain't they talkin' Alien?"

"Let's have a look," the Doctor said, tugging on Naomi's shoulder and brushing the hair from her neck to see the magenta light illuminating the back of her neck. "Yeah, medi-pods have put implants into each of you. Standard procedure," she explained, letting go of Naomi's shoulder. "Checks for a universal translator, implants one if you don't have one."

"Eh? Well, can people and things stop putting stuff inside me without my permission?" Graham asked loudly.

"If I had my TARDIS, you wouldn't need them," the Doctor explained. "Anyway, shall we?"

The five entered the tent, draped in silks and fine cloths all around. Across from the entrance sat a man with ancient robes, long black hair and brown skin similar to Indian complexion, although Naomi didn't think they would have an Indian outer space.

"This is lavish," the Doctor mused, staring at all the pillows that surrounded the man. "For a tent. I'm the Doctor. These are my new best friends: Ryan, Naomi, Graham and Yaz," she introduced them.

"Now," the Doctor continued, taking her hand and slashing it through the man's stomach. The room and the man all became pixelated, waning between the three suns and the protection of the tent before it returned to normal. "Ah! I see. Hologram. Thought it might be. Good one, though. I love a good hologram." She turned back to the four with a small smile. "I was a hologram once, for three weeks. The gossip I picked up!

"What are you?" she asked, turning back to the man. "Projection reality or AI interface? 'Cause if you're interface," she muttered, squatting down and looking up. "Those are excellent nose hairs."

The man looked away from the Doctor, unamused, as he looked at Epzo. "Who are these people?"

"Bonuses," Angstrom piped up on the opposite side of the tent as Epzo.

"No."

"What?" Epzo asked.

"I told you. Bonuses and snaketraps are over," he explained.

"They were hanging in the starfield when we exited hyper. Are you saying we scooped them for nothing?" Epzo asked, a quiver in his tone that could easily turn to outrage.

Naomi took a few steps away from where she stood near Epzo and closer to Ryan.

"Yes," the man agreed.

"I sacrificed my ship!" Epzo shouted.

"Yeah, sorry," the Doctor interrupted. "Some of this is my fault. Hi," she greeted the man, regaining his attention. "We're loads of solar systems away. I was trying to find my own ship. I got a fix on it here, and then it all went quite badly wrong, actually. These four have been very good, not going on about it. Very grateful you came along.

"Can I ask, what is actually going on here? 'Cause I'm confused. Are you confused?" she asked, turning back to the four of them.

"Pretty confused," Yasmin agreed.

"Proper confused," Ryan nodded.

"Quite confused," Naomi said.

"I'm way beyond confused," Graham said, taking off his sunglasses.

"You're intruding on the final stage of the last ever Rally of the Twelve Galaxies," the man said once they had finished.

"So, what, like a race? Like Paris-Dakar in space? Are you two space racing each other?" the Doctor asked, looking beside herself to look at Angstrom and Epzo.

"We're the finalists," Angstrom whispered with a large smile.

"4,000 entered, two are left. Only one will claim the prize."

"What's the prize?" Ryan asked.

"3.2 trillion krin," the man said.

"3.2 trillion what?" the Doctor asked.

"Krin," Angstrom supplied.

"How much is krin?" the Doctor asked.

"200 kavlons," Angstrom told her.

"It's 94 volars," Epzo added.

"No.:

"4,000 trinities."

"Uh, in old money."

"Bit behind on my exchange rates," the Doctor muttered.

"Enough to provide a lifetime of comfort on a safe world for the winning pilot and their entire clan," the man said, finishing their discussion on the exchange rates.

"Are we eligible too?" Ryan asked, getting a quick elbow to the stomach from Naomi.

"No, you're irrelevant," Epzo said, not even looking at him.

"Get on with it," Epzo called to the man impatiently. "Tell us the task."

The man nodded, "The final challenge is to cross the terrain, survive the planet, make your way to the other side of the mountains, and the first one to get to the site marked as the Ghost Monument will be crowned the winner and transported off this planet."

There was a pause in his statement before he continued, "The loser will not.

"You can't leave one of us here!" Angstrom shouted in defiance, "The ships are out of fuel!"

The man stood, although a hologram, terrifying as he leaned down to look in Angstrom's face.

"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do with my own race. You knew the risks when you joined." He walked away from Angstrom, a cheery smile back on his face as he raised his arms. "Biggest ever prize. Biggest ever risk.:

"Wait!" Graham shouted, looking between the three aliens. "Hang on! What about us?"

"Shut up," Epzo sneered. "You're not part of this."

"Excuse me! We are _human beings._ Show a bit of solidarity," Graham shouted.

"I'm Moxturan. She's Albarian," Epzo stated, pointing at Angstrom, to show they didn't need to show any 'solidarity' to them.

"Never even heard of 'mooman beans'," Angstrom agreed, pinching her lips together.

" _Beings._ Human _beings,"_ Ryan corrected. "Earth."

"Have we come so far that we're not even known?" Naomi asked.

"Nope," Epzo shook his head.

"Pretty cruel race. Leaving the loser stranded," the Doctor said, moving past the bickering.

"Well, the Rally is a test of survival. How far will we go? How will we react when challenged? It's the ultimate test," the man explained to the Doctor.

"Interesting use of the word 'we' seeing as though you're not here," she hissed, walking behind the man as she scanned him. "Projected in from a very long way away."

"I started the Rally. I competed and I won, and now I'm going to end it," he told her, turning back to Epzo and Angstrom. "No sabotage, no injuries and no killing each other."

"Shame," Epzo muttered.

" _Instant_ disqualification applies. Now, take your meds, don't travel at night and don't drink the water, in fact, don't even _touch_ the water. This entire planet has been made cruel."

"Made cruel how?" the Doctor asked.

The man glossed over her, as he continued with his instructions, "You have one single piece of assistance—Transport. Provided by the water. Get across the water, through the ruins, and the site of the Ghost Monument is on the other side of the Mist Swamps."

"Mist what?" Yasmin asked.

"Your route trackers are over there. Good luck."

The Doctor caught the man as he finished, "I know you prefer to ignore me, but what is it, this Ghost Monument?"

"The site was named by the ancient settlers. It appears in exactly the same place every thousand rotations," he explained.

"I've got my tracker, I'm good to go," Angstrom said.

"See you for the prize, Ilin," Epzo called at the door of the tent. "I'll finally get to light my Althusian cigar," he sighed, holding up a short, thick cigar. "Saving it for the win."

"What does it look like, this monument?" the Doctor pushed.

"What does it matter?" the man asked, walking right through her.

"Look at us," she argued, the six standing in front of a table. "Five people who barely know each other, stranded on a planet called Desolation. No route trackers, no way off, and judging by what you've told us, very little hope of survival. I need all the information I can get, including, but not limited to, what this Ghost Monument actually looks like when it appears."

The man caved, letting another hologram appear before them. An odd sight in the sandy desert, a blue police box that seemed oddly familiar to Naomi. As if she had seen that exact one before.

"That's an old police box," Graham laughed.

"I've seen it before though," Naomi said, furrowing her brows.

"Like the one on Surrey Street?" Yasmin asked her.

"No, no, that one's green," Naomi said softly.

"This don't make any sense," Yasmin muttered, shaking her head.

"It makes sense to me," the Doctor whispered, her breath taken by the sight. "Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. That'll do."

The man smiled at the Doctor, "Well, I'm sorry I can't be of any more help."

"I really don't think you are," Naomi said loudly behind the Doctor.

"You're right," the man nodded, the hologram disappearing around them.

"Oh, bye then!" the Doctor shouted at the man who was long gone. "He was a bit full of himself."

"I've got a couple of questions," Yasmin stated, raising her hand slightly.

"A couple? I got a book full," Graham said, putting his shades back on. "But shouldn't we keep up with those two before they get too far away?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, heading in their direction. She stopped, looking back at the four she had brought with her. "Now, I know this is a bit of a shock—"

"Well, you could say that," Graham interrupted. "I mean, we have been dumped in space. We've got spaceships crashing all around us. Now, we are marooned on a planet that everyone else is racing to get away from."

"Alright, anyone can focus on the negatives," the Doctor told him gently.

"Well, what are the positives?!"

The Doctor smiled brightly, "What he called the Ghost Monument, that's my ship, it's here!"

"What? The old police box?" Graham asked, lifting his shades.

"Didn't look all that," Ryan muttered.

"It's very all that, thank you very much," the Doctor said to Ryan defensively. "Don't you see? I got it mostly right. I tracked my TARDIS here, but the planet had fallen out of orbit. We landed where the planet should have been. It looks like the engines are stuck in a loop, phasing in and out of time and space. If we get to it when it phases in, I should be able to stabilise it. Then I can get you back home."

"Definitely? If we get there, you can get us off this planet alive?" Yasmin asked.

"Yaz, I promise. I will keep you alive and I will get you back home. I'm really good in a tight spot. At least, I have been, historically. I'm sure I still am. If we stick together, if you trust me, we can get out of this," she told them with a hopeful smile, waving her hand for them to follow. "Right. Let's get shift on."

Naomi and the other three had fallen behind the Doctor as they crossed the harsh terrain. For a while, Naomi had been stuck in her thoughts. If the Doctor had a ship that could fly all over time and space, would she ever want some company? Or did she jump from one travel to the next making friends for only a moment? Naomi hopped it was the former of the two, she wanted to escape her dull life in exchange for something better than anything she could ever imagine.

When they got to her ship, her _TARDIS_ as she said. Maybe, she could convince the Doctor for one more trip. One more time to change her life for the better.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" Ryan asked. "Do you really think she can get us off here?"

"She saved Karl, she got the better of Tim Shaw," Yasmin reflected on their last adventure together.

"And she did jump a crane," Naomi added.

"Don't know what would've happened if she hadn't have been there," Yasmin nodded.

"Oh, Yaz is right," Graham called form the back. "I mean, she's our best hope. Or only option, depending on your politics."

"Guess so," Ryan agreed. "Don't argue with the wisdom of Graham, eh?" he asked sarcastically.

"So, we're sticking with Graham, are we? and not "Grandad"?" Graham asked, picking a fight that Naomi did not want to be in the middle of.

"Yes, Graham."

The four walked up the dock in their silence as the Doctor had come between Angstrom and Epzo, her finger on his throat until she let go, the man now coughing as he sputtered for breath.

"And this boat doesn't work," Angstrom told her.

"Oh, uh, me and Ryan will take a look," Graham volunteered.

"Will we?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, well, those NVQ classes must be good for something. An engine's an engine," Graham shrugged.

"Not a space engine!" Ryan shouted.

You don't get to take charge here," Epzo stated. "This is about me and her fighting to win."

"We're all going to the same place and that boat is big enough for all of us," Yasmin argued.

"Yaz is right. If we get it started, we all get on board," the Doctor nodded.

"I know what this is," Epzo said with a smirk. "You're part of Ilin's game. You're saboteurs, sent to throw us off."

"You think the whole universe is out to get you," Angstrom sighed.

"How's your family, Angstrom?" Epzo asked, striking a nerve as her face fell and she became silent.

Naomi watched as Angstrom walked off the dock, keeping herself to her thoughts. "Are you alright?" Naomi asked her taking a seat on a piece of broken ship.

"Fine, I'm fine," Angstrom pushed her off. "Thank you," she said immediately after.

"We ladies need to look after each other," Naomi smiled, winking at Angstrom who smiled.

"I've never seen so much water," Angstrom mused, as she looked out at the small lake.

"Even with all the planets you've been to in this race?" Naomi asked.

Angstrom shrugged, "Yes, well, Albar doesn't have this much water. It's an odd sight to see when we get to it."

Yasmin had joined them after she finished talking to the Doctor, joining them where they sat. "You're Albarian, you said?" Yasmin asked Angstrom, who seemed to perk up at the question, turning her body more so to the two women.

"Yes, the planet of Albar," she agreed. "It's tiny, crammed full of rusting high-rises. Everyone wants to leave any way they can. Even more so since—" Angstrom stopped herself from saying too much.

"Since what?" Yasmin asked, Naomi lightly tapping Yasmin's thigh in a silent way of saying 'hush'.

Angstrom put her guards back up, a large frown sculpting into her features as she pulled her goggles off to put in her backpack. "I don't know you."

The Doctor jogged over to the three, calling, "Up and running. All aboard."

* * *

 **"HEY** Yaz, can you believe it? Alien planet, man," Ryan whispered in the back of the boat.

They had all boarded, sitting around with Angstrom at the back steering.

"I know," Yasmin smiled.

"This planet doesn't make any sense," the Doctor muttered, her sonic out as she scanned. "No other life forms except us and the microbes in the water. No people. No animals, no insects, no nothing. But he talked about the old happened here?" she asked.

"No one cares," Epzo laughed, taking a vile and downing it.

"Don't take him personally. He treats everyone like this," Angstrom assured the Doctor.

"I don't need other people," Epzo shrugged.

"We all need other people, mate," Graham said.

"We're all alone. That's how we start and end, and this is a natural state of all points in between," Epzo disagreed, a small, miserable smirk still on his lips.

"How can you say you were born alone when you've been pushed out of your _mother's_ womb and are placed right into her arms?" Naomi asked, leaning back into the boxes, crossing her legs from where she sat in front of Epzo.

Epzo rolled his eyes, "You are born _alone,"_ he repeated himself. "You die alone. It's the natural thing that happens. Your mother is not there because she wants to be."

"Were you born that miserable or did you have to work at it?" Graham asked.

"When I was four," Epzo started to tell them a story. "my mum told me to climb a tree. She made me climb until I was too scared to climb any higher. Then she told me to jump into her arms. 'Don't worry,' she said. 'I'm your mum. I'm here for you. I'll catch you.' So, I jumped and she moved out of the way."

"What? Sorry, did you say your mum did this to you?" Yasmin asked in shock.

"And I thought my mum was the devil," Naomi mused.

"Smashed into the ground, broke this arm, shattered that ankle. She stood over me and she said, 'Now you've learned. You can never trust anyone in this life.'"

"That is messed up."

"Best thing she ever did for me. I love my mum," Epzo sighed, that grin still on his face as he reminiscent about his mother.

"Yeah, she sounds terrific," Graham sarcastically replied.

"Your mum was wrong," the Doctor told Epzo, leaning out so she could see him. "We're stronger together.

After Epzo's little tantrum, he had dozed off, leaving the rest in a somewhat peaceful silence.

"I see your mate's dropped off," Graham noticed. "It's nice to see him quiet."

"Yeah. He can nap anywhere. Famous for it," Angstrom told them with a small smile.

"How many stages are there in the Rally?" the Doctor asked.

"This time? 209 terrains, 94 planets. We start the race with nothing and barter our way up," she told them.

"Is it worth it?" the Doctor asked.

The soothingly smile on Angstrom's face had been replaced with one with force, trying to keep her high spirits up but one that showed she thought that the Doctor's question was somewhat funny to her, in a morbid sense. "To ensure enough for my family's safety? Yeah. Albar is being systematically cleansed. Half my family are in hiding. The others are on the run. This is my only chance to bring us back together."

"S,o you left your family to do this?" Yasmin asked, as if accusing her of trying to help bring her family together.

"I left my family to try and save my family," Angstrom told her. "They told me to. If I win, I find them, rescue them... If they're alive to be rescued. And whatever happens here, it's a better chance than I have back home."

"You make me want a family to miss," Naomi laughed.

Yasmin smiled lightly, "Yeah, you make me miss my family. That's quite some achievement, considering my dad drives me mad and my sister's trying to get me to move out so she can have my bedroom. And I only saw them yesterday."

"Don't ever take them for granted," Angstrom advised her, a teary gaze trained on her.

"Oh, you all look _shattered_."

"You should all rest," the Doctor advised them. "I'll wake you when we get there."

"Are you not going to sleep?" Naomi asked quietly.

The Doctor shook her head, a wind whipping inside that made Naomi shiver from the open window.

"No, I'll be fine," she whispered, standing up and draping her cloak on top of her so she could rest easy.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _Uh, hey, I got this up. I feel like it looks a little rushed. I'm sorry, I was getting tired but wanted to finish it._ _I'll edit it up so that it looks a bit cleaner. I tried my best to get Naomi in there but I think at some points I started to doze off and totally forgot she was there..._

 _Anyways, I hope you liked it no matter that. I really enjoyed this episode. I don't really know why, I just loved Angstrom. Which, side not, sorry if her name is spelled wrong. I had such a problem writing it. I think in my head I wanted to write Armstrong so it came out Arnstrong, Angstrom, etc._

 _ **NEXT TIME:**_ _The group hasn't even faced the true horrors of the strange world named Desolation. The terrors that have been left for the night still await them, but will they make it through alive?_


	5. The Beautiful Ghost Monument

The Doctorwoke up Naomi while Graham woke up Yasmin and Ryan. She smiled sweetly at the dazed woman. The Doctor peeled her cloak off her, Naomi suddenly feeling cold as she sat up. Naomi could feel heat rise into her cheeks, something growing in the pit of her stomach that she didn't want to happen.

Yet she did.

The Doctor was an odd woman, she was reckless and an alien. Naomi doubted she was even the age that she seemed to look. The last time she had heard about the Doctor in London she was a man in his early thirties, but before that he could have been nearer to forty in 2005.

There was something timeless about the Doctor that Naomi knew her heart would break if anything happened between the two.

The Doctor held out her hand for Naomi, and she took it. The Doctor tugged her up while she pulled, straightening up and felt some of the joints in her back pop.

"Let's get a move on," the Doctor cheered, waving her hand for Naomi and the rest of the group to follow her out of the boat.

* * *

The group had made it back on land, Epzo and Angstrom leading the group with the Doctor and Naomi behind them, Yasmin and Graham side by side and Ryan taking the rear as he tried to catch up.

Angstrom had started to grow far more annoyed with Epzo's cocky attitude with the end of the race nearing. He held a cigar close to his face but didn't seem ready to light it.

"Have you seen yourself, Epzo?" Angstrom asked with a laugh. "I'd say you love that cigar more than you've loved any person."

Epzo turned to her, amused by her words because truly he did love that cigar more than any person. It was much more valuable than any life he had come by.

"Have you any idea how rare and expensive these are? It takes half an Althusian lifetime to make just one of these. To make them, roll them, age them, and then, this is the best bit, they make them self-lighting. Just one click of the fingers and it lights itself," he explained with a large smile.

"Aren't you worried someone's going to snap and it's going to light your pants on fire?" Naomi asked, intruding on the competitors conversation.

Epzo rolled his eyes, but held the cigar out to the two women. "Do you want a sniff?" he asked. "Closest you'll ever get to victory," he taunted Angstrom.

The seven made it to a large ruin site, half the building piled underneath sand. The Doctor looked around, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Big set of ruins. Wonder who those were built for?" she muttered.

"Why do you even care?" Epzo asked with a scoff.

"Where are those people now?" the Doctor asked, ignoring Epzo. "Why are there so few signs of life? What happened to everyone?"

"Bye. Ha!" Epzo called, going to the right of the ruins.

"Good luck!" Angstrom called to them, headed left.

"You've already lost, Angstrom!" Epzo shouted.

The Doctor let the two leave and held out her sonic to get some knowledge on the area that had found themselves on.

Graham watched the two go, "What, we're just letting them go, are we? How do we know what to do, where to go?" he asked.

"First thing we have to do is make it through those ruins safely," the Doctor explained, putting her sonic back into her cloak. "Because these readings are all over the place and I don't know why."

The Doctor led the four up the side of the ruins straight ahead, their feet sinking into the sand. They made it inside and into a small area that was shaded, watching as the suns started to set.

"Those suns are starting to set," the Doctor explained, her hands on her hips as they all watched. "They're moving way faster than I realized."

"Well, back in the tent, that bloke Ilin said do not travel by night," Graham recalled.

"We need to move, fast!" the Doctor stated.

The five turned, only to find an army of robots standing behind them. They were dark in color and had cloaks over their "heads" and guns at the ready to shoot them down.

"Whoa! They weren't there when we came in," Graham exclaimed.

"Where did they come from?" Ryan asked.

"They just materialized!" Naomi shouted.

The Doctor stared at them, "I don't know," she told Ryan. She leaned forward, holding her sonic up and scanning the closest droid to her.

"Oh my God, Doctor!" Yaz exclaimed.

"So much for no life forms on this planet," Graham scoffed.

"They're not alive," the Doctor stated, looking at her sonic and then back to the robots. "They're robot guards. "Why would you need robot guards on a deserted planet?" she asked with a shrug.

"You don't," Naomi said anxiously. "Doesn't that mean there's something here they're protecting?"

The Doctor nodded her head, taking another look at her sonic. "Good news is, they're not fully active. So, what we all need to do is, very slowly, totally non threateningly, back out of here."

The Doctor waved her hands as she started to walk backwards, out of the ruins so that they could get to a safe haven. Then, a loud alarm started to sound and the robots raised their guns at the five of them.

"They've been activated!" the Doctor shouted. "Run!"

The Doctor noticed Naomi standing still in the middle of the room and pulled her hand so that she would follow after her. When they got to the stairs, they both let go and jogged up the steps.

"Move! Moe, everyone! Come on!" Graham shouted.

They made it off the stairs, the robots blocking the path to the left so the Doctor turned to the right and ran. "Ah! Ah! Swerve!" she shouted to the group. "Don't run straight. They're predicting out path!"

They made it over a small bridge and by another building where small holes were cut out by the ground, which were probably high windows before the sand had filled it all in.

"In here!" the Doctor shouted, rolling into the circle.

Naomi followed after Yaz, the group without a scratch thankfully but most likely a few bruises.

"Well done, all of you, nice running," the Doctor congratulated them.

The Doctor started to walk forward when a metal sheet in the shape of a person popped out of the sand, scaring her a few inches back and bumping into Naomi. She apologized before running across the room.

"What have we here?" she asked, sonicing the ground where an old robot laid in the sand like a dead body.

"Got anything there, Doctor?" Yaz asked.

"Information," the Doctor muttered, looking to see what her sonic had to say about the robot. "Oh, that's bad. They're SniperBots. We just walked into the middle of the shooting range. Everything within the perimeter is target practice."

"Which would explain all the targets in here," Graham agreed, looking around. "And looking on the negative side, they're _human_ -shaped targets," he hissed.

Ryan jumped down to where a gun laid, "If that's the way it is, time to stop messing about."

"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked.

"Fighting back," Ryan said innocently.

"No. Guns, never use'em," the Doctor shook her head, her lips thinned as she stared up at Ryan.

Naomi nodded her head, "It's only going to make things worse for us when we could just find a way to shut them down."

The Doctor turned to Naomi with a large smile, proud she had one friend who wasn't for guns. One she didn't have to explain how there were many other ways you could out think the enemy before resorting to something as destructive as guns.

"They're shooting at us," Ryan argued.

"I know."

"They're going to kill us with their guns!" Ryan continued to spell it out for them.

"He's got a point, Doc," Graham said.

"Put the gun down, Ryan," the Doctor demanded, not playing this game anymore.

"What's your better idea?" Ryan retorted.

"Out think them," the Doctor stated, her head held high.

"You can't out think bullets," Graham argued.

"Been doing it all my life," the Doctor said with a cocky smile.

"Uh-uh, sorry, _Call of Duty,_ man. I've trained for this," Ryan grinned and darted out of the hole.

It hadn't been thirty seconds before Ryan rolled back into their hiding place screaming at the top of his lungs.

The Doctor stood where he landed in the sand with a frown on her face, "Made it worse?" she asked him knowingly.

"Just a little bit, yeah," Ryan agreed hesitantly, back on his feet.

"There's a reason we said no guns," Naomi told him with a small frown and Ryan started to feel like he was being berated by his mum.

"Don't go on about it," Ryan muttered.

"We _will_ go on about it," the Doctor retorted, standing next to Naomi with her hands on her hips. "A lot!"

The sound of a gun powering up caught their attention and they all turned to see one of the SniperBots inside their hiding spot.

"They're here. Take cover behind the pillars."

The five spread out, Graham on his own behind one on the Doctor's far right, Graham and Yasmin on her left and Naomi one right in front of her.

"You know we're completely surrounded?" Yaz asked over the shots.

"Yep!" the Doctor cheered.

Naomi ducked her head, holding her hands over her head as another laser hit the metal person she hid behind.

"With no way out whatsoever?" Graham continued.

"Here's the lesson," the Doctor told them but paused as a shot hit her target. "The answer was on the floor. You just reached for the wrong thing."

"What are you talking about?" Graham asked in annoyance.

"The best thing about robots is, they're powerful. Literally packed with power. Super-powered," she explained.

A circle of light came from where the Doctor squatted on the floor, the SniperBots surrounding them fell backwards with the electromagnetic pulse.

The five stood up slowly, testing the waters to see if the robots would come back up before they all moved to surround the Doctor with large smiles.

"Wow!"

"Okay, now that was impressive," Graham agreed, nodding his head.

"Thank you, I aim to please," the Doctor nodded her head with a smile.

"What exactly did you just do?" Yaz asked.

"Electromagnetic pulse. Basically, fried their systems. I reckon we've got about five minutes before they reboot and recover. See? Brains beat bullets. Come on," she called to the group.

Naomi walked beside Ryan with a large smile as she craned her neck to look up at the tall teenager, "If you had just listened—"

"Okay, _mum,"_ Ryan sighed, lightly pushing Naomi away from him as he laughed to himself.

* * *

"Let's try through here," the Doctor called to the four as they turned a corner to find Epzo pointing a gun at them and Angstrom behind him.

Epzo lowered his gun as he looked at the Doctor with wide eyes, "What just happened?" he asked.

"What do you care? You don't care about anything," the Doctor asked him, her snarky tone amusing Naomi as she passed him and grinned at Angstrom. "Ooo, tracker, thanks."

The Doctor took Angstrom's tracker and the two competitors started following the Doctor with her new friends.

"How did you even do that?" Angstrom asked softly.

"Did I not mention?" the Doctor asked with a smile. "I am really smart."

Angstrom didn't crack a smile or laugh, she looked at the Doctor with soft eyes and quietly said, "Thank you."

"You are very welcome," the Doctor smiled before turning back to the tracker. "Amazing what you can learn from a SniperBot. Like, where their control commands emanate from. Also, maps. Which leads us..." they turned a corner to find a hatch. "Here!"

The Doctor held out her arm with the sonic at the end. The hatch door popped open and she leaned over the side to look down into it. "I want answers to this planet and I think they're down there."

"You sure about that?" Graham asked.

"Nope. Come on," the Doctor cheered.

She started to climb down the ladder, the others following after her.

In the tunnels, the Doctor was astounded by the craft of them. They were long and wide, with thin lights guiding their way.

"These tunnels run under half of the planet. Think of the technology, the civilization required to build all that, and then ask yourselves, where are they?" the Doctor told them.

Epzo grunted as he walked along, he had told them of his injury but didn't want to stop for care. Even when Naomi offered. There wasn't much they could do for him anyways.

"How're you?" Naomi asked.

"In pain," Epzo muttered, squaring his shoulders back.

"Hope it's made you reconsider your entire philosophy," the Doctor told him.

"Nope."

"Doctor?" Graham called, the group turning back to see what had caught his eye. "Scorch marks all along the walls."

"Not exactly encouraging, is it?" the Doctor asked as she looked at them, calculating what they could mean.

"No."

"Still, best feet forward," she called.

They continued walking but only a few feet away did something else catch the Doctor's attention. She turned, and walked towards a large door.

"Oh, big locked door. I love a big locked door," she grinned, whipping her arm out so that she could sonic it open. "Ominous," she told the group before walking into the room.

The room was dark and disheveled as if the people who had once occupied the room had tried to leave in a hurry. Chairs were knocked over and papers were all over the place. Loads of the equipment was broken and Naomi even noticed jars full of mold because of the lack of use.

"What happened in here?" the Doctor asked, a vague sense of sadness in the back of her throat.

"There's another room next door. We'll take a look?" Yaz said, turning to Ryan.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed, following after Yaz.

Naomi walked away from the group as well. Epzo was starting to grate her nerves badly, she didn't want her anger to rise to where she wouldn't back off of the man. To where she would physically hurt the man. So, she exited a situation she knew she needed to get away from. She knew the Doctor was fed up with him too, it wouldn't be long until she was able to get the man off their backs.

Naomi walked around the room, took a small look at the room where Ryan and Yaz were looking but moved on. She took note of the computer system that had long been deactivated and found a small entrance to a room that had been closed off. She peeled away the thin boards and walked inside.

The room was as dark as the rest but lights surrounded a large painting on the ground. It was blood red and crudely drawn. She walked around it, but nothing seemed to pick up with the chip in her neck. Maybe it was beyond the reach of the chip. It looked oddly enough like some kind of language.

She walked back to the opening and squatted so she could peak out to find the Doctor. She stood at the computers she passed with Angstrom and Graham.

"Doctor, you may want to see this," she called, and ducked back inside.

A few moments passed, and the three were inside as well, staring at the drawing on the floor.

"Inscriptions on the floor," the Doctor mused, turning to Naomi with a small smile. "Good find, Naomi."

Naomi nodded, she would've smiled if the situation wasn't so tense.

"What is it, some sort of cave painting?" Graham asked.

"Almost," the Doctor nodded. "Left by the people who worked here."

"You can read it then?" Naomi asked hopefully.

"What does it say?" Graham asked.

"'We are scientists. Abducted, tortured and made to work, while our families are held hostage. We are forced to find new ways of destruction. Poisons, weapons, creatures. We gave them our minds and they made us the creators of death. This planet has been left scorched and barren from our work. The atmosphere and water are toxic. Killing machines and creatures inhabit every corner. We had no choice but to obey... The Stenza. We are trying to destroy all of our work before they use it against others. There's two words below that. They're coming,'" the Doctor looked up when she finished. "That's how it ends."

"The Stenza?" Graham asked, taking a step forward. "That's the thing we stopped in Sheffield, right?"

Angstrom looked torn, the recognition of the name and how the people who surrounded her knowing of the Stenza broke her heart. "You know the Stenza too?" she asked.

"My wife died because of them," Graham told her sadly.

"Mine too," Angstrom told him, her voice breaking. "I'm sorry. They took our planet, sent us into hiding, cleansed millions of us."

The four stood in a moment of silence, Naomi found her hand resting on Angstrom's shoulder as they thought of what they could do and how the Stenza kept showing up to mess with them.

Suddenly and faintly, a muffled scream rang through the room. Naomi was out of the room first, with the Doctor and Angstrom on her tail. Graham ell in after them as they found Epzo in a small corner, a cloth over his mouth, suffocating him.

Naomi tried prying the cloth off his face but nothing worked.

"Do you have a knife?" Naomi asked Angstrom. She nodded, and Naomi held the piece of cloth taut so that Angstrom could cut through it. The cloth acted as if it were alive and shirked away in pain, removing itself from Epzo.

"We've seen them before. Like, all over the planet. Like they were lying dormant," Graham said, turning to the Doctor.

"Lying dormant till night, across the whole planet... clearing up the wounded," the Doctor realized.

Yaz and Ryan skidded into the room, panting and panicking. Yaz held tightly onto the Doctor's cloak as she steadied herself and exclaimed, "Doctor! I found you! The SniperBots are on their way down after us."

"We need to get out of here. Everybody, move fast!" the Doctor shouted.

The group ran together down the long halls, the Doctor holding up the end as she stopped to close up the doors. It would take the SniperBots a second to get through them but hopefully it would help keep their distance between them.

Everyone stopped, starting to pant from the lack of oxygen getting to their lungs.

"Why have we stopped?" Yasmin asked.

The loud whir of the machinery suddenly stopped.

"Listen," the Doctor told them. "They've shut down the life support systems, depriving us of air."

"A man could really take against those robots," Graham muttered.

"We need to get out of the tunnels," the Doctor told them.

"But it's night," Graham argued.

"This exit ladder will take us up and out to the surface," Angstrom directed them, pointing up the ladder beside them.

"What's up there?" Yaz asked.

"Acetylene fields," Angstrom told her as she looked at her tracker.

"Acetylene?" Ryan asked. "Like the gas?"

"That doesn't sound good," Yaz mused.

"We're running out of air and options, so let's go up," the Doctor told them.

Naomi stood beside the Doctor. The Doctor pushed her over to the ladder after Graham as Ryan stood near it, staring up anxiously. Naomi walked up the ladder as the Doctor soothed Ryan before he went up.

Naomi and Graham stood at the top, the acetylene coming to them immediately.

"That's disgusting," Graham shouted, pulling his shirt up to block his nose from the smell.

"I agree," Naomi nodded, staring down the hole as Ryan slowly made his way up the ladder.

He pulled himself up, Naomi giving him a bit of help as he stumbled out of the hole. Quickly, the other four made it up and it wasn't surprising as Yaz started to complain about the smell as well.

The group started to make a run for it but Ryan quickly held his arms out and made them all stop as he noticed the ground before them.

"Wait. Everyone, stop. Look, it's like the ground's moving," Ryan called.

The desert sand looked like waves as the strips of clothes weaved their way towards them and had them surrounded in seconds.

"Finally, a big feast of lives," the remnants hissed as they circled the group.

"Nobody move," the Doctor directed.

"Don't let them touch you. They'll squeeze the life out of you," Epzo told the group, finally participating in something unselfish.

"Yes, squeeze the life from all of you," the remnant hissed mockingly.

"The talk is to distract you. That's how they were designed in that laboratory," the Doctor told them, trying to keep them from being distracted.

"You can't save them. We smell your fear too. The strongest of all."

"You want fears?" the Doctor asked them. "I've got a dozen lifetimes' worth."

"A dozen lives?" the remnants asked. "We'll take you first."

"Remember any facts, Ryan, as we climbed?" the Doctor asked him.

"It's lighter than air."

"Yes. Smells like garlic and lighter than air. That's right. And one other thing about it, but we'll all have to dig deep for that, right?" the Doctor asked, looking from Ryan to Yaz to Naomi who was grinning ear to ear and following her instructions.

"What are you talking about? What are you doing?" Epzo asked,

"Shut up and dig, Epzo," Angstrom quipped.

They shuffled their feet in the sand, while keeping their eyes on the remnants. Somehow, they didn't seem too smart for their only goal to be to kill them.

"You lead but you're scared, too, for yourself and for others," the remnants told the Doctor.

"Yeah, well, who isn't?" she asked, glaring up at the creature.

"Afraid of your own newness. We see deeper, though, further back. The Timeless Child."

The Doctor paused in her digging to take a good luck at the remnants. "What did you just say?:

"She doesn't know," they mocked.

"What are you talking about? What can you see?"

"We see what's hidden even from yourself, the outcast, abandoned and unknown."

"Get out of my head," she demanded.

"Now we crush those fears from you."

"Enjoy your feast, whatever it is. You know what some people like after a feast? Graham?" she asked, turning to the man.

"Huh?"

"Not me. Some people," she urged him on.

"Do it," Epzo said, standing next to Graham and opening the pocket that had his cigar in it.

"Oh, yeah. A nice cigar," he agreed, taking the cigar and tossing it into the air.

"Down!"

They all fell flat on their backs and into their holes, to where they would hopefully be safe from the impending fire. The Doctor raised her hand, and snapped her fingers. The cigar lit and the acetylene caught on fire, taking the remnants with it.

"Third fact, ignites very easily. Good old acetylene. See? Teamwork. Now, move. Come on," the Doctor called.

The group army crawled under the fire and out of the fields to try and make it to the other side of the mountains.

* * *

Angstrom's tracker beeped as they made their way to the Ghost Monument.

"We must be near now," Ryan said, tired of listening to the beeping.

"Says we're close," Angstrom agreed.

The Doctor and Naomi made it to the top of a small hill and a tent sat beyond it, waiting for them.

"There. Your finish line," she called.

"Ah, we made it," Epzo sighed in satisfaction at the sight.

"But, where's your ship? Where's the Ghost Monument?" Naomi asked, looking over the desert and past the tent and saw nothing.

"It's not here," the Doctor muttered. "I don't understand. It should be here. We did all this for nothing?" she whispered, but turned to Angstrom. At least she was able to get one person home. "So, you got here..."

"And now I'm going to claim my prize," Angstrom told them, standing above them.

"I saved your life. You'd be dead without me. And if I raced you now to that tent, you'd be dust. You're a wreck, Epzo," Angstrom argued with him.

"Who had the cigar, eh? Me. That was mine. The cigar saved us all," Epzo contradicted her.

"Seriously?" Angstrom wheezed out. "Don't even think I'm going to lose to you now," Angstrom finished, regaining her voice.

"Er, could I make a suggestion?" the Doctor asked.

Epzo and Angstrom took the Doctor's suggestion of going in together and demanding their win to be joint. They stepped in foot first together and stood before Ilin with grins on their faces.

"Dead heat."

"Joint first. Dual winners."

Angstrom put her hand on top of Epzo's.

"With witnesses."

Ilin sat on his throne, staring at them. He brushed them aside with a roll of his eyes. "What? No. There's never been a joint winner of the Rally.:

"There has now," Angstrom corrected him.

"No," Ilin hissed. "I will declare the final race null and void."

Epzo stepped up to Ilin, leaning close as he threatened the man for his life and for his prize. "Ilin, you've made this a living hell for us. I promise you that whatever happens, I will get off this planet, and if we don't get what we both fought for, I will hunt you down and ensure that whatever time you have left is both short-lived and agonizing. Do we understand each other? Now, recognize your equal winners."

Angstrom stepped forward as well, as she hissed, "Pay the prize, or pay the price."

"I'm honored to declare a unique joint victory... and equal split," Ilin gave in, leaning back in his seat as he frowned at the two winners.

"Now, get us off this rock," Epzo demanded.

"Fine."

"And them," Angstrom told him.

"No."

The tent and the Rally competitors disappeared at the snap of Ilin's fingers as they were left in the middle of the desert with only Angstrom's echoing 'No'.

The five stood where the tent had been, the wind picking up as they took a moment to take in what happened.

"They're gone?" Ryan asked.

"We're stuck here, are we?" Graham asked.

"I'm sorry. I've failed you. I promised you and I let you down," the Doctor said softly, a loss of hope finding itself in the only person they had ever met that seemed to never lose hope.

"It's not your fault, Doctor," Naomi assured her, putting her hand on her elbow. "We'll find a way."

"We can wait, can't we?" Ryan asked, trying to bring the Doctor's mood back up.

"Yeah. We've got each other," Yaz agreed, turning from Ryan to the Doctor.

"No, we'll be dead within one rotation," the Doctor told them.

"Who says so? We've come this far, ain't we? Who says we're giving up? Any of us? Really? Even you, Doc? No. Come on, we ain't having that, are we?" Graham asked, his usual negative attitude picking up for the Doctor.

"Nope," Yaz agreed.

"No," Ryan said.

"Never," Naomi nodded.

An odd wheezing that sounded very unnatural started to echo across the desert. The Doctor's head perked up as if she recognized it.

"Can you hear that noise?" Yaz asked curiously.

"Come on, please. Give us this," the Doctor whispered, pulling out her sonic. " It's alright, it's me! Stabilize. Come to Daddy. I mean Mummy. I mean, I really need you right now."

Slowly, the blue box the group had seen in the tent started to materialize as she spoke until finally it formed solidly. The Doctor ran to her Ghost Monument, leaving her friends behind her. They followed behind her as she had a bit of a moment with the TARDIS.

Graham was the first to interrupt their reunion.

"But it's an old police box," Graham told her.

"Sort of. Not really," the Doctor told her.

"You expect us all to fit inside there?" Ryan asked.

"Yep."

"At the same time?" Yaz asked.

"Wanna try?" the Doctor asked them with a large smile.

"Okay," Ryan shrugged.

"Oh, word of warning. I left it in a bit of a mess," the Doctor told them with a shrug before entering by herself.

Naomi rushed to the doors, something she had always wanted to do. She had heard stories and tales in the office of the Doctor's blue box. How it was bigger on the inside. But how much bigger? She always wondered. What if it were only a few feet wider? What if it were just taller and not wider?

As she followed the Doctor inside, she realized that it was infinitely larger on the inside. As if the box had somehow been wrapped around a whole dimension and then locked so that it would never break out. She could feel her mouth drop as she noticed the golden glow of the whole place. It had beautiful hexagon architecture on the walls and a large crystal in the middle of the console. It pumped up and down as it churned energy.

"This is my TARDIS," she told the four stepping inside slowly.

"Wow," Yaz whispered.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed.

"She's beautiful," Naomi whispered.

"It was a police box," Graham stated, turning back to the doors.

"It still is on the outside," the Doctor assured him.

"How do you fit all this stuff inside a police box?" Graham asked.

"Dimensional engineering," the Doctor explained.

"You can't engineer dimensions," Yaz told her with a smile.

"Maybe _you_ can't," the Doctor retorted, looking at her out of the side of her eye.

"Can I press any of...?" Ryan asked, taking a step near the console to push one of the buttons.

"No."

"It's a spaceship?" Graham asked.

"And a timeship," the Doctor told him.

"Get out," Ryan told her.

"Seriously."

"This... is proper... awesome," Ryan told her.

"I thought maybe you didn't believe me that I'd get you home," the Doctor told them.

"I thought you didn't believe yourself for a second back there," Yaz retorted, nodding her head to the door.

"Who, me? No. Never doubted. Don't know what you mean. Home, then?" the Doctor asked, brushing Yaz off.

"Do we have to?" Naomi asked softly.

"You don't want to go home?" the Doctor asked, turning to her curiously.

Naomi shrugged, thinking of home but she couldn't really think of one. It wasn't her boring old, stuffy apartment. Nor was it with her mother and sister. She felt like she hadn't had a home in a long time, not since high school. Not since Daphne Greene.

Naomi sighed, "It's alright."

"You can get us there? Really?" Yaz asked.

"Start believing," the Doctor told her and moved to start pulling levers and odd things. She even ate a biscuit the TARDIS dispensed to her as the engines started up and they dematerialized into the vortex.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE** WOW LOOK WHO'S BACK FROM BEING MIA... somewhat. Here's a new chapter, I'm sorry for how long it took. To be honest, I've just been kind of lazy or busy when it comes around to this story. I'm quite embarrassed to write fanfiction around my family so I have to wait until their out of the house with this one because I have the show recorded in the living room.

I hope this was okay. I'm kind of getting frustrated with this because I feel like not a lot is happening for Naomi and ugh. I can't wait for the season to be over so I can come back and edit this through much better.

Now, I do have a vague idea that I want to do a Naomi centric episode that would be entirely made up. But I'm not sure where I would like to place it. Does anyone have any suggestions, I plan on it being set in the somewhat future, not very far and have to do with some of Naomi's family.

Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

 **REVIEWS REPLIED**

 _(sorry i forgot to do this last time...)_

 **ceciliawho2:** Ah! thank you so much, I know how hard it is to find a good wlw fic and I'm just so happy to see that plenty of people are going to enjoy this story with it. Thank _you_ very much, without you I'd probably burn out and not want to write this anymore. I'll try to keep going, even if I burn out a bit along the way.

 **setsuna1415:** thank you! um, is it going to be a slow-burn? that's a great question because i honestly have no idea what's going on... but nothing will probably be said or confronted until the season finale or possibly beyond that? i don't know what this season has in store so we'll see.

 **quavers (both reviews):** yeah, naomi always seems to feel like a black sheep to others but hopefully this will get resolved as she grows with the TARDIS team and becomes part of the family!  
I can see what you mean with the feeling of the Doctor's Daughter, it just kinda had that vibe in a sense. It seems like she's just going to hint at staying for now haha. But yes, Naomi hasn't found her true purpose in life and needs something more fulfilling to push her.

 **guest:** me too, i'm glad i'm doing a 13 fanfic.

 **robyn:** *finger guns* trying to be cool like big time writers as i give away at her backstory. it's no fun when you have a big block of text of information anyway. you're going to lose half of it because it's so long!

 **carlylynn:** ah me too! i love thirteen so much. and i'm so happy you love my story and naomi. i've put a lot into making her relatable but someone essential to the team... although i feel like im going downhill at the moment... lol

 **setsuna1415:** haha! sorry for the long waitttttt but it's finally here!


	6. A Slap For Civil Rights

It had been fourteen trying times that the Doctor had tried to get them home, it had been a long night of shaking and anxiousness among everyone.

The Doctor insisted that they even get some sleep in the rooms the TARDIS had provided for them at one point. The TARDIS was strange and expansive. Naomi was worried that once she got to her guest room she'd never be able to find her way back. When she had expressed this to the Doctor, she smiled politely and assured her that there was a phone connected to the console if she needed anything. Naomi smiled, and entered her room that surprisingly resembled her one at home. Just cleaner.

Once they were awake and back in the console room, the Doctor had tried her fourteenth attempt, stepped down the steps and looked outside for a moment.

"Nearly," she stated, shutting the doors and walking back up to the console.

"Sheffield?" Yasmin asked hopefully, although the Doctor returning to the console seemed an unlikely sign.

"Almost," the Doctor assured her. "Really close."

"So, not Sheffield, then?" Graham asked.

"You're doing this deliberately, aren't you?" the Doctor whispered towards the console as she pushed a few buttons.

Yasmin raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, "Who are you talking to?"

"If it's me," Ryan said, raising his hands. "I haven't touched anything!"

"I'm talking to the TARDIS, because this is our ninth attempt," the Doctor said to them before redirecting her statement to the TARDIS.

"Fourteenth," Graham corrected. "You can't control this thing, can you?"

"Excuse me. Yes, I can," the Doctor told him offended, although she started to deflate. "Most of the time. Just sometimes, like now, it has a mind of its own."

Naomi raised an eyebrow, most of the things the Doctor said seemed to go in a round-a-bout way but Naomi was used to that with most of the phone calls she got and tried to piece together what the Doctor was saying.

"If she keeps taking you away from Sheffield, could she be telling you something?" Naomi asked.

The Doctor looked up, furrowing her eyebrows together, "It's possible, she's done it before."

"Maybe you should listen," Naomi smiled lightly, placing her hand on her shoulder.

Yasmin started to pick up on Naomi's tone, figuring that maybe they needed to stay for one more trip. "So, where are we, actually?" she asked curiously.

"Earth, United States," the Doctor told her, looking down at the console for more information. "1955, Montgomery, Alabama, if I'm reading this properly. New displays. Still figuring them out," she explained, backing up slightly.

"Nineteen fifty _five?"_ Graham asked, his tone sounded annoyed but suddenly it changed as he asked, "Could we see Elvis?"

Naomi laughed lightly at his question, knowing Graham for only a few days came with knowing him as grumpy, annoyed and most important, opinionated.

"I think he's in New York this week. I could give him a call," the Doctor stated offhandedly.

"You haven't got Elvis' phone number?" Graham stated, staring at her for an answer.

The Doctor's shoulder tensed and she took a step towards Graham, away from Naomi as she poked a finger at him. "Don't ever tell anyone I lent him a mobile phone."

"Is there someone out there controlling that kind of thing?" Naomi asked the Doctor.

The Doctor's shoulders tensed a little more before they lowered, her head started to fall but before anymore could be shown, alarms went off all around them.

"Whoa, what's that?" the Doctor asked, looking up at the projection the TARDIS had pulled up for her. "Traces of artron energy?"

"Show we know what artron energy is?" Yasmin asked.

"It's the same type of energy the TARDIS runs off," the Doctor explained, turning to look at her. "There really shouldn't be traces of artron energy here, unless they're ours, which they're not," she shrugged.

Naomi smiled, "You want to check it out, don't you?"

The Doctor turned to her and smiled back, "Yeah, I should. Quick look, but quietly. History is very delicate. We stick together."

* * *

"Real life 1950s," Yasmin grinned as the five walked down the streets of past America. "Time travel's awesome."

Naomi felt her hands shake as she looked around at the people passing by, giving her a look of superiority, mostly white men. "I have a bad feeling about this," she muttered.

A loud smack was heard behind them, the four turned around to see Ryan holding a glove in his hands out to a man. He was tall and white and everything from that American History class Naomi took in college came back to her. She was the first to run, and try to push Ryan back from the man. Graham was able to pull him back and away from the man and his wife.

"Whoa, stop," the Doctor shouted, stepping forward.

Yasmin pushed herself between the man and Ryan, puffing out her chest as she said, "Sir, please take a step back." She walked back and turned to Ryan. "You okay, Ryan?"

"I was just trying to give her back her glove," Ryan hissed, throwing the glove back down on the ground.

"Ryan, please, shut up," Naomi whispered, her hand on his chest as she looked up to him. He looked down at her with a frown. "It's not safe."

Ryan nodded, his face still sculpted in a frown as he stared at the man talking to the Doctor and Graham.

"Is this your boy?" he asked the Doctor.

"He's my grandson, actually," Graham stated, glaring up at the man.

"Your _what?"_ the man asked in disgust.

"My grandson," Graham repeated himself.

The man frowned, his teeth bared as he looked between the five standing before him. "You ain't from around here."

"We don't want any trouble," the Doctor assured the man with her hands up in surrender.

"I don't know how it goes where you folks are from, but your boy, he'll be swinging from a tree with a noose for a neckerchief if he touches a white woman in Montgomery," the man threatened, his eyes pointed directly at Ryan.

Naomi felt Ryan tense at the man's words. She slowly inched her hand down to his hand so he wouldn't feel so alone in this situation.

Graham tensed as well, his shoulders rolling back as if preparing for a fight and everyone could sense it, "What did you just say?"

A light-skinned black woman emerged from behind the group in a pretty beige dress. She pushed herself to the front where the man stood and smiled prettily from behind her thin-rimmed glasses as she addressed the man she knew politely.

"There a problem here, Mr. Steele?" the woman asked, turning to the three standing close behind her. "Step away now. Go ahead, step away," she urged them.

Naomi tugged on Ryan's hand, pulling him away and Graham followed as they joined the Doctor and Yasmin a few feet away.

Mr. Steele looked down at the woman, his frown still prominent as he looked at her. "These friends of yours?" he asked.

"No, sir. Just on my lunch break, wondering if I can help out with any _misunderstandings,"_ she hissed, turning back to them. "Oh, I believe your suit will be ready tomorrow. The alterations going to make it look just right, sir," she appealed to him.

The man slightly nodded, the anger starting to edge away as he put his hat back on and called for his wife to follow him away.

As the Steele's left, the woman turned sharply on her heel, her sharp gaze boring into Ryan. "Are you crazy?" she asked him.

"He slapped me," Ryan defended himself, taking a few steps forward, inadvertently dragging Naomi along with him.

"Don't you read the newspapers? Your friend was right, it's not safe," she stated, pointing towards Naomi. "You know what they did to young Emmett Till," she said.

"We're from out of town," the Doctor tried to assure her that they just didn't know any better.

"So was Emmett Till," the woman said, nodding her head. "On vacation from the north... couple of words to a white woman in Mississippi and the next thing, they find his body in the river. You want that to be you?"

Ryan stared at her like he had been scolded his mother. His head tilted down as he quietly said, "No."

The woman frowned more so, raising her head as she looked at him. "Did your mother raise you with no manners? I will take a 'no, ma'am'," she demanded.

"No, ma'am," Ryan whispered.

The woman looked between the group, "You all together."

"Yes. We're very grateful, Miss..." the Doctor started to thank her but pined for a name.

"Mrs," she corrected. "Parks. Rosa Parks."

"Oh my God, I think I'm going to faint," Naomi whispered, taking a step back but Ryan's hand holding hers pulled her back up as he chuckled slightly at her enthusiasm.

"No way," Yasmin followed.

"You're kidding," Graham continued.

"Brilliant! Rosa Parks, lovely to meet you, Rosa Parks. Big fan," the Doctor gushed.

Rosa looked at the Doctor warily, "Excuse me?"

"Big fan... of Montgomery," she said with a slim save. "I am... we are just visiting. Recommend anything for tourists like us?"

"I recommend you get yourselves the hell out of Alabama before you find yourselves in trouble you can't get out of," Rosa demanded, turning to leave the five in the middle of the street.

The Doctor followed after her quickly, stretching a long arm to scan the woman.

"Oh, my God, can you believe it?" Yasmin asked everyone, although she pointed her gaze to Naomi who looked the most excited. "Actual Rosa Parks."

"Amazing. Also a problem," the Doctor agreed, walking back to them. "Registering traces of artron energy all around her. Why is that?"

* * *

The Doctor had led them to a three story shop where on the bottom floor rested a restaurant. The five had seated themselves but Naomi couldn't shake the feeling of being out of place. Her and Yasmin were probably far more exotic than Ryan as Asian and Indian. With the Asian Exclusion Act keeping them out of America for centuries. She was terrified, as a meek woman in the 50s, this was her true Hell.

"We were in Rosa Parks class in primary," Yasmin had been telling Ryan. "Do you remember? All the Year 4, 5 and 6 classes were named after inspirational people."

Ryan looked at Yasmin then to Naomi across from him, "She's the bus woman, right?"

"You do remember what she did," Yasmin smiled excitedly.

"Yeah, first black woman to ever drive a bus," he continued, making all of their stomachs sink.

"Oh, Ryan," Naomi muttered, putting her head in her hands.

"What?" Ryan asked, looking around the table for answers.

"Your Nan would have a fit right now. How could you have been in a class named after the woman and not know who she is?" Graham asked, shaking his head at his grandson.

"She's American," Ryan defended himself.

"She refused to give up her seat to a white since if there was no room, a person of color had to. She got arrested for it, and it put into motion the boycott of the buses in Montgomery. Allegedly beginning the Civil Rights Movement," Naomi explained, popping her head back up to look at Ryan.

"Or rather, will start," the Doctor corrected her, looking down at the newspaper she had picked up. "Today is Wednesday, November 30th, 1955. Tomorrow, Rosa refuses to give up her seat."

"Right, kicking of the movement that's led by Martin Luther King," Ryan finished for her, tapping his head. "See, I'm not totally ignorant. I just got confused by the whole bus thing."

"Martin Luther King is a minister here in Montgomery right now," the Doctor stated, looking up from her newspaper.

"He and Rosa knew each other?" Yasmin asked, the Doctor agreeing with her as the restaurant suddenly became quieter. Chairs and heads turned as they were all directed at their table.

"Is it me, or has it gone very quiet in here?" Graham asked, not moving his head to look around.

A waitress stalked up to them, her blonde hair bouncing as she stared right at Ryan with bright, blue eyes. "We don't _serve_ negroes," she stated, looking him up and down with a large frown.

Ryan took a moment to let her statement stoke in before he leaned over a bit towards her, "Good, 'cos I don't eat them."

Naomi kicked him under the table and he winced slightly as the waitress turned to her and Yasmin.

"Or Mexicans and Japs."

"Is she talking to us?" Yasmin asked, not looking up from where she was staring ahead at the Doctor.

"Y'all need to eat somewhere else," the waitress told them.

"Come on," the Doctor said, standing up to leave.

Outside the restaurant, the Doctor turned to them with a frown, "Okay, listen. I can deal with this. You guys go back to the TARDIS and be safe," the Doctor told them.

"While you do what?" Yasmin asked defensively.

"Locate the source of these energy anomalies. We're one day out of a tipping point in Earth history. I don't want anything disrupting that. It's easy for me here. It's more dangerous for you. You can walk away from this," the Doctor told, although she didn't have much conviction in her statement. Her words said that she wanted to protect them from the 50s harsh society but her tone sounded like she wanted them to come with her, even if she couldn't protect them from the words.

"Rosa Parks can't," Ryan stated, head held high as he looked down at the Doctor.

"Rosa Parks doesn't," Yasmin agreed, nodding her head.

"Rosa Parks won't," Naomi finished, wrapping her arm with Yasmin's.

"If she can live her whole life here, a couple of hours ain't going to kill me," Ryan concluded with a finished expression before he turned to Graham and quietly asked, "It ain't going to kill me, right?"

"No," Graham assured him.

"Not if we look out for each other," the Doctor agreed.

"I'm cool with it. What do you reckon, Mexican lady?" Ryan asked turning to Yasmin, then looking at Naomi with an amused grin. "Japanese woman?"

Yasmin and Naomi both turned to Ryan with annoyed glares but the small smiles on their lips assured him that they were okay from his quip and the whole situation they had landed into.

"Oi, keep that up, I'll use you as a pinata," Yasmin threatened.

"Epicentre of the artron readings is 1.2 miles that way. Come on," the Doctor called, moving on from the restaurant.

"Hey, hey, we will stop somewhere else to eat though, won't we?" Graham asked, trying to pull the Doctor back but she was already on the move.

"No time, Graham!" she shouted.

"Have you noticed that happens a lot? I need regular food, that's all," Graham complained to the other three as they started to follow the Doctor.

"I don't think she ever eats, that's why she doesn't care. Must be an alien thing," Naomi shrugged.

"We just got thrown out of bar and this is what you're worried about?" Ryan asked the two with a small laugh.

"Not just that," Graham disagreed.

"I could really do with a cheeseburger," Naomi stated with a sigh.

"Not sure your stomach's are compatible with time travel," Yasmin laughed at the two.

* * *

The Doctor had them all the way to a bus works alley, where buses came to get gas fill ups, repairs and rest for the night. There were a few people walking around but they didn't pass care as the odd people walked by. They just continued on with their days.

The Doctor held out her sonic screwdriver as she walked them through, "This is where the artron signals converge, at the bus company," she explained.

"All roads lead to Rosa Parks," Yasmin said.

"Yeah. Bit of a worry. Let's have a look around," the Doctor stated, leading them to a shed with a row of padlocks on the door.

"I'm not sure about this," Graham muttered as the Doctor's sonic unlocked all of the padlocks on the door.

The five moved inside to realize that the shed was basically empty besides a few odd things lying around that meant nothing to any of them.

"There's nothing in here," Ryan stated, voicing what all of them had be thinking.

"Why padlock an empty room, unless it's not empty," the Doctor muttered, he sonic still buzzing as she looked for what they had been searching for.

Suddenly, a suitcase appeared in the middle of the room that had not been there before, as Graham had bluntly stated.

"No kidding," Ryan muttered, rolling his eyes.

"It was there. We just couldn't see it. Perception filter," the Doctor explained, walking towards the suitcase.

"Why would anybody do that to a suitcase?" Yasmin asked curiously.

"And why would they leave it so perfectly on the floor?" Naomi asked, turning her head to look at the table and chairs set up. "Why not leave it on that table?"

The Doctor nodded her head, noting that this could more or less be a trap, but she continued to move forward.

"Can we open it?" Ryan asked.

The Doctor grinned up at him, "Is the right question!" she cheered, throwing herself forward so she could open the suitcase with the initials G.F.B. printed on the front. "Is anyone excited? 'Cos I'm really excited," the Doctor grinned.

"You won't be if it's a bomb," Graham pointed out.

The Doctor's face fell as she whipped her head to look pointedly at Graham. "Don't kill the vibe, Graham!"

She opened the suitcase to showcase five small, highly advanced items inside.

"Whoa, not very 50s," Ryan noted, looking over the Doctor's shoulder.

"I knew it. See, now there's a problem. We're not the only ones in Montgomery who don't belong here," the Doctor explained.

"Any clues what any of that is?" Yasmin asked.

"Information brick, multi-intercept and surveillance device. All a bit knackered though," she observed.

"Well, why has it been left in here?" Graham asked.

The Doctor gasped, snatching one of the items as she realized what it was. "This explains the artron signals. This is _very_ bad news. Secondary charger for a..." the Doctor was unable to finish her statement as a loud blast came from behind them, making the chair vanish.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted, pushing who she could before her.

* * *

Outside in the yard, the Doctor had them all hide behind large, rusted tanks before the man caught up to them. They breathed heavily from their sprint and waited for the sounds of the man chasing them. His heavy booted steps were heard and then he heaved himself on top of one of the fuel tanks as he tried to gain an aerial view.

The Doctor turned to her crew, "Stay here," she whispered, before running to jump on top of a fuel tank as well.

She spoke to the man, tauntingly calling him Brando as the two went back and forth about the artron energy left all around 1955. She left a few moments after and back to her crew when "Brando" walked out from behind the tank he had been standing on.

"Chop, chop, on your way now," he taunted.

The Doctor pulled her lips in as she dashed forward, held out her sonic and soniced him. The man laughed at her oddity.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

The Doctor didn't answer him, but called out to the four behind the tank, "Come on, gang."

"Are we actually leaving?" Yasmin asked, running up behind her.

"Not in a million years," the Doctor assured her.

* * *

"Where areﾠwe off to Doc?" Naomi asked after they had been walking around Montgomery for a good ten minutes with no real direction.

Graham had finally convinced the Doctor to stop for some food, so as he picked up some food from the grocery store. Naomi and the Doctor stood outside while waiting. Yasmin and Ryan had gone off inside since it allowed people of color inside as well, and having Graham on his own probably wasn't the smartest move.

"Not sure, where do you think we should go? We need somewhere private but where we have plenty of room to talk," she explained, pushing back her blonde hair only for it to flop back into her face.

Naomi smiled prettily, pushing the Doctor's hair behind her ear so that it would stay. Ever since the talk with "Brando" the Doctor seemed to be on edge and her hair had been a mess. It flopped all over and she just wanted it to stay back. She didn't seem to think that putting it behind her ear would be the most help.

"Thanks," the Doctor muttered with a small smile.

"A motel will probably be the best bet," Naomi stated. "But do you have any American money?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Doctor dug into her pockets, sticking her tongue out as she pulled out a small journal, a wooden bird and a few drawings that looked like they had been stenciled by Van Gogh.

"No, doesn't seem so. We could probably sneak in..." the Doctor shrugged, stuffing the items back into her coat.

Naomi nodded, noticing the three walk out and wave them over to her. They each held a bag in one hand and stood beside Naomi and the Doctor as they discussed their next moves.

* * *

The Doctor was able to find a motel, but it wasn't as friendly as the pretty blue lit up sign seemed as beneath it stated 'Whites Only'.

"I'm getting pretty sick of seeing that sign," Ryan sighed.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Yasmin asked, her hands in her pockets.

* * *

Ryan and Yasmin helped pull Naomi inside the bathroom of a motel room, she hopped in lithely. Her frame and weight letting Ryan have an easier time pulling her in. She smiled, patting both of them on the shoulders before moving into the bedroom.

"Why can't we just stay in the TARDIS?" Graham asked the Doctor as the three moved inside.

"Our friend with the temporal displacement weapon's got eyes on it. We go in and out of there, we're going to run into him again and I don't what to just yet. Not till we've figured this out," the Doctor explained.

Naomi sat on the bed closer to the door while Ryan sat on the other. Yasmin walked to the other side of the room where the TV was and leaned against it.

"And this is better?" Ryan asked, pointing towards the bathroom. "Smuggling ourselves into crummy motels?"

"I just need a moment to work this out," the Doctor explained, holding her hands out.

"Yeah, like, what do we actually know?" Yasmin asked with a small smile.

"Well, 1955, Montgomery, one day away from Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat up on a bus," Graham supplied.

"Meanwhile, we've got an out-of-time impostor skulking at the bus works with a temporal displacement weapon," the Doctor said in turn, starting to sound like Graham the more she worried herself.

"I understand weapon, but not sure about temporal or displacement," Ryan explained.

"Displaces you through time. A blast hits you, you're thrown through time to wherever the user has set it. He had it set for the very far future," the Doctor explained, her hands thrown around as she showed her point.

"That's horrible," Ryan stated.

"Yes, and it uses artron molecules. That, plus his Vortex Manipultor were presumably what the TARDIS detected when it brought us here," the Doctor explained.

Naomi fell back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as she tried to come up with what she knew from that history class. She remembered talking a lot on Rosa Parks. Doing her own research while in the class because she had been so fascinated by it, but why was none of it coming to her now?

Suddenly, the Doctor had jumped up onto the bed, startling Naomi as she jumped.

"Sorry," the Doctor told her offhandedly as she uncapped a pen and started write on the wall.

"Oi, whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing? That is vandalism! We'll have to pay for that," Graham shouted.

"Don't worry, special pen," the Doctor assured him, turning back to write out her last name.

Naomi sat up, crossing her legs as she turned to face the Doctor on the bed.

"No, pack it in. You ain't Banksy!" Graham continued to shout.

"Or am I?" she asked, continuing to write. "Rosa takes the bus on the first of December 1955. What time of day?" the Doctor asked them.

"Evening, wasn't it?" Naomi asked, turning to look at Yasmin.

"Yeah, she was coming home from work," Yasmin agreed. "I remember 'cos she said people thought she didn't stand 'cos she was tired from working, but she wasn't."

"Where did she work?" the Doctor continued.

"She's a seamstress, I'm not sure where though," Naomi stated, leaning back on her elbows.

"Has to be near where Ryan got slapped by that git, she had said she was on lunch," Graham pointed out.

There was a loud bang on the motel door, the whole room stood still as Yasmin looked between Ryan and Naomi.

"Bathroom," Yasmin stated.

"Seriously?" Ryan asked her.

"Very seriously," Naomi finished, the three running into the bathroom and slamming the door closed behind them.

Ryan pushed himself out of the window first, landing feet first before waiting for the girls to follow. Naomi helped Yasmin get out by holding her hands as she went backwards so Ryan could take her by the waist. Naomi following after her, Ryan helping her steady herself.

"There's a dumpster right there," Ryan pointed out.

Yasmin deflated, "Seriously?" she asked.

"Very serious," he smirked, tugging on her hand to follow him.

They sat behind the dumpster quietly and pressed together. Ryan by the brick wall while Naomi sat closest to the dumpster. She would have complained if they weren't so close to being dragged off to jail.

"I'm sick of this place already," Ryan scoffed, his knee bumping into Yasmin's as they tried to keep themselves as hidden as possible.

"I know, but to be here just as history's taking place—" Yasmin tried to twist it into positivity but both Naomi and Ryan knew it wasn't enough, history wasn't enough to put it all away.

"This isn't worth the history," Naomi sighed. "This is a bunch of stupid shit we've been pulled into. We should have never come here," Naomi muttered, leaning her head against the dumpster before realizing what she was doing and pulled away quickly.

"Exactly, this ain't history. We're hiding behind bins. I'm having to work so _hard_ to keep my temper, every second here. I could've slapped that guy back there as soon as we arrived. Thank God my Nan taught me how to keep my temper," Ryan told her.

Naomi coughed, making Ryan roll his eyes.

"You too, Nai. You helped too. Never give them an excuse."

"Yeah? My dad tells me the same," Yasmin agreed with a smile.

"Yeah, see? It's not like Rosa Parks wipes out racism from the world forever. Otherwise, how come I get stopped way more by the police than my white mates?" Ryan asked, his temper starting to rise again.

"Oi, not this police!" Yasmin defended.

"Tell me you don't get hassled," Ryan pushed her.

"Course I do, especially on the job. I get called a Paki when I'm sorting out a domestic, or a terrorist on the way home from the mosque," Yasmin said, her voice going quieter as she spoke.

"You know, I get harassed all the time at my job. A lot of it's on the phone but when I talk to my co-workers it's always something offensive but not offensive. Like a stereotypical Asian accent or... a play on the gay card."

"You're gay?" Ryan asked curiously, leaning forward to look at her.

"Don't be frightened," Naomi laughed nervously.

Ryan laughed, easing the tension, "No, I just thought you were hitting on me earlier. Holding my hand, touching my chest," he explained teasingly. "But _now_ I know you were just being weird."

"I was _not,"_ Naomi laughed, leaning over Yasmin to hit Ryan. "Plus, I'm way older than you."

Ryan rolled his eyes as he laughed.

Yasmin continued on, "Guys, they don't win, those people. I can be a police officer now 'cos people like Rosa Parks fought those battles for me. For us, and in fifty-three years, they'll have a black President as leader. Who knows where they'll be fifty years after that. But that's proper change."

Naomi and Ryan looked at her with small smiles, "What?" she asked them.

"Were you born this positive?" Ryan asked her.

"Guess so, must be my Mexican blood," Yasmin stated, making both Naomi and Ryan laugh softly.

"Yaz. Naomi. Ryan," Graham shouted into the alley, concluding their discussion.

* * *

"Where were we?" the Doctor asked, back on the bed as everyone else stood around. "We need as much intel as we can get. If we're going to protect Rosa, we need to know the facts of her life. Home address, daily routine, where she works, the routes she takes and the church she attends. Also, the name of the driver she refused."

"I know that," Graham spoke up. "It's James Blake."

"How do you know that?" Ryan asked.

"Well, your Nan, when she found out I was a bus driver, said to me, "you'd better not be like James Black. Blake the Snake," that's what she called him, and I had to asked her who he was. She just said he gave all bus drivers a bad name," Graham explained.

"She said that when you'd only just met?" Yasmin asked with a smile.

"Yeah."

"That's pretty hard line," Yasmin laughed.

"That's me Nan," Ryan agreed.

"Yeah, she had a t-shirt that said... _The Spirit of Rosa_ and, um, well, I wish that she was here," Graham said softly.

The room seemed to stop for a few moments. Everyone wished she could be there with them. She embodied this movement, this rightful love and activism. Naomi felt a tear fall but she quickly wiped it away.

"I don't," Ryan grinned. "She's start a riot."

The Doctor nodded her head, "Right. Operation Rosa Parks," the Doctor stated.

Ryan, Yasmin and Graham had made their way out of the Motel to collect things that could help them with their search as Naomi stood back to help the Doctor try and remember things that could potentially help them.

The three had returned with pamphlets and newspaper and laid them out on the table.

"I've found out where she works. Montgomery Fair Department Store," Yasmin stated, pointing to the ad in the paper.

"And if the phone book's right, this is where she lives," Ryan stated, pointing to the map.

"Right, so these bus routes don't go near Rosa's shop or house," Graham stated, setting aside a large stack of pamphlets. "But these ones do," Graham explained, setting the few down.

"Great!" the Doctor cheered, standing up. "If we can find Rosa's route and time today, we can keep an eye on her tomorrow. Who's up for a bus ride?"

Graham raised his hand.

* * *

The five approached the bus stop, waiting for it to arrive together but when it pulled up Yasmin, the Doctor and Graham all crowded toward the front door that let them in for white seating. Ryan moved to the second door and Naomi followed him, not sure how the bus driver would react to her Asian heritage.

"This is me, on the back fo the bus," Ryan called, sitting in the first row with Naomi squeezing in beside him and crossing her legs.

"I'm so ashamed," Graham said, a frown on his face as he turned back to look at Ryan. "You shouldn't have to do this."

"I agree. I'm sorry, Ryan, Naomi," she told them, looking up at Yasmin as she began talking.

"You didn't have to sit with me, Nai," Ryan told her as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"I don't know how that driver would have reacted anyways, although he doesn't seem to mind, Yaz," Naomi noticed, watching as Yasmin took a seat. "Plus, I'm not letting you do this alone," she told him, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

Ryan gave her a small smirk, lightening the mood as she threw his hand away from her. "Oh, shut up."

* * *

Ryan and Naomi got off the bus as the Doctor, Graham and Yasmin did, standing with them as they stared at the tall building on the other side of the street.

"That's where she works!" Yasmin cheered. "This must be her stop."

"Perfect, we can wait here, then get on the bus with her when she finishes work, have a little chat," the Doctor stated.

Finally, the day had turned to night and the five had gotten on the bus as Rosa Parks did.

"Hi, nice to see you again," Yasmin greeted, catching Rosa's attention. "Mrs. Parks, right?"

"Yes," Rosa agreed.

"You helped us earlier today with our little misunderstanding," the Doctor explained, sitting beside Rosa in the colored section.

"I remember. _British,"_ she said, turning to look at Ryan and Naomi before back to the Doctor.

"Yes, funny thing, you'll never believe this. We're actually doing market research for bus companies. Looking at people's transport habits. Answer the questions, enter the raffle for a prize. You get this bus this time every day?" the Doctor asked with a smile.

"Most days. Always this time," she answered, looking down at her purse in her lap.

"And you live...?"

"Cleveland Court, next stop," she stated, pointing in front of them to show. Rosa took a long pause, watching the Doctor as she sat there without moving. "Ma'am, if you keep sitting there, we're all going to have to move," Rosa stated.

Graham leaned slightly towards them in his seat to say, "What do you mean?"

"If white folks need seats, by law, I have to give up mine. This middle section is only for coloreds, if white folk don't need it," Rosa explained.

"Well, that's not right," Graham said.

"Tell your company that, sir," she told Graham as the Doctor got up to move a seat up, but out of the coloreds section. She smiled tightly, looking at the Doctor, "If I win your raffle, will that give me the right to sit anywhere I want on this bus?"

The Doctor gave her a hard look, "No."

"I didn't think so," Rosa agreed. "This is my stop," she stated, standing up and leaving out the rear door.

"I'm going to follow her. See what i can find out. Meet you back at the motel later," Ryan told the Doctor, standing up from beside Naomi as she stood too.

"I'll go with him, keep him out of trouble," Naomi told her.

"Good idea, be careful," the Doctor told them as they left through the rear door as well.

 _ **author's note.**_ _oh my GOD! look who's finally back. this bitch! can't believe it's been so long but i'm going to try my best to regularly update this story after so long. i was trying to watch all the episodes for doctor who so that i knew where i wanted to go with this story. didn't help, but at least we can see where this goes! i've missed you all and i can't believe i'm at 4k reads. thank you to everyone who's read, voted and commented!_

 _anyone else missing naomi, because i know i have! i wasn't sure if i had naomi have her coming out moment to the crew and i tried to check quickly but i don't think i did... so hopefully this doesn't contradict something. if it does please tell me!_

 _thanks so much for reading and i'll see y'all later, BYE!_

96hllnd ©2018 - 2019  
& bbc one


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